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Sublime form
On the wings, Ashique Kuruniyan has been in sublime form for the home side and has troubled the opposition defenders with his pace and dribbling skills.
Interim coach Pradyum Reddy will hope that Marcelinho can get back to his best as when the Brazilian is on song, he can penetrate any defence at will. Reddy has vowed to take the game to NorthEast United and will be hoping his star forwards trouble the Highlanders.
Star forwards
Reddy has vowed to take the game to NorthEast United and will be hoping his star forwards trouble the Highlanders.
"We tried in a couple of games before the break to go with a more conservative approach and it didn't necessarily get us the results that we wanted. With the attacking options that we have in our squad, I think it is best for us to go with more of an attacking mindset because we need to get three points," he said.
"If you look at the way the league table is now, we need to get closer to Kerala, the team immediately above us (in seventh). We have to have that kind of an attacking mindset."
Mean defence
NorthEast United, on the other hand, won a thriller against Kerala Blasters with two goals in injury time. The win last week would have further boosted their confidence and belief that they can qualify for the play-offs for the very first time in five seasons.
Interestingly, unlike the seasons gone by, NorthEast have a mean defence and have only conceded eight goals from seven games. This has given a lot of teeth to their forwards. Bartholomew Ogbeche has scored seven goals and is very much in the race for the Golden Boot alongside Ferran Corominas (8) and Sunil Chhetri (5).
Individual quality
"Pune are under more pressure than us. We need to maintain where we are and (meet) expectations and Pune need to climb up. It will be an interesting game," Coach Eelco Schattorie stated. "
"Pune have a squad with a lot of individual quality. They have some really good individual players that can make a difference. The weakness of Pune, for me, is very clear and hopefully, we can exploit them," said the Dutch coach.
Given the quest of both the teams, a lot is at stake at Balewadi. Pune could build a momentum from here onwards, while on other side NorthEast - being the dark horse this season - could go one step further to cement their place in top four.
