Bengaluru FC hungry for win against lowly Mumbai FC (Preview)

Bengaluru FC head coach Albert Roca is hoping for a change in luck when the defending champions take on Mumbai FC in an I-League football match at the Cooperage Stadium here on Saturday.

Winless in five games now, Bengaluru have often found themselves on the short end of fortune to share points in games they should have comfortably won.

"It's frustrating for sure to control large parts of the game and then come away with a point. But that's football and like I have been saying, it's important to keep any negativity away. We back the kind of quality we have and we will need to show it against Mumbai," Roca said.

Bengaluru will come into the game with three straight draws and the Sunil Chhetri-led side will have to be more clinical with the chances they have been creating in attack if the trend has to be bucked.

C.K. Vineeth scored the first hat-trick in the club's history when Mumbai came to the Bengaluru's Kanteerava stadium in January and the visitors will hope the striker, who hasn't scored since then, finds form in front of goal.

Mumbai, meanwhile, are struggling with a seven match winless streak of their own, having gone on to lose six straight games and played a goalless draw against Mouhan Bagan on Wednesday.

The Santosh Kashyap-coached side finds themselves above only Churchill Brothers on the points table.

But much has changed for Mumbai in terms of their squad since they last played Bengaluru. Four foreign singings in Densill Theobald, Djelaludin Sharityar, Alex Willian and Anderson da Silva have joined Kashyap and showed in glimpses against Bagan what they bring to the side.

"Like us, Mumbai too have been chasing a win for some time now and that is what makes them dangerous. They have even added four foreigners who look experienced and that changes a lot from the last time we played them," said Roca.

In what is surely some respite for Roca, who has missed key players owing to injury and suspensions, central defender Juan Gonzalez has made the trip to Mumbai having served his two-game ban.

He will add some much needed strength to a Blues defence that has had a few weak moments in the recent past.

John Johnson, however, continues his rehabilitation after fracturing a rib and will miss out on Saturday.

--IANS

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