Mumbai City hope to ground high-flying Bengaluru FC

Mumbai, PTI: Mumbai City FC would look to notch their first win of the Indian Super League (ISL) this season and move up the points table when they face high-flying Bengaluru FC in a clash between two heavyweights here on Wednesday. Bengaluru have made a commanding start, winning all their three outings so far to sit atop the points table, while Mumbai are surprisingly placed at 11th after two away matches, with just one point.

Mumbai have found the back of the net in their previous eight matches at home and are looking to equal their longest such ISL run, having done so in nine meetings between October 2022 and February 2023. Interestingly, they have also won their previous three matches versus Bengaluru. Bengaluru have scored one-third of their goals in the competition this year within the opening 15 minutes, the highest such rate for any team so far. Mumbai City head coach Petr Kratky said his team needs to avoid conceding goals from set-pieces.

“We need to get better in the area where it's hurting us. And, we have to stop it as soon as possible because, in two games, we conceded five goals and four goals from set-pieces, which is unacceptable for me,” he said. “We have to keep working and keep going. We need to analyse and identify what's (going) wrong and have to find why. The 'why' is very important.