ATK will be hosting Mumbai City FC this Friday at the Salt Lake Stadium. The confrontation between two teams, one with a newly modelled offensive strategy and the other with a good offensive strategy that has not fired in the last few matches, will be interesting. Mumbai City can cement their place in the playoffs with a win here. ATK will have to win both their matches including the one with Mumbai City and then will have to rely on the results on whoever faces Jamshedpur FC and Mumbai City FC.

ATK

It looks like Steve Coppell and his boys have left their appetite for goal scoring a bit late. Placed 6th in the league table with 21 points they have scored the least number of goals in the league at 15 goals. The recruitment of Edu Garcia had changed the scene for ATK with him and Manuel Lanzarote combining well. But Lanzarote was injured in the last match and is not likely to take the field too. So Garcia will have to combine with Kalu Uche to score the much-needed goals for ATK Even a draw with Mumbai City and ATK is out of contention for the playoffs.

Mumbai City FC

With only two games remaining in the league the Islanders need to win this match in order to qualify for the semi-finals. After a good mid-season run in which they remained unbeaten for nine straight matches, they have lost three in a row. Jorge Costa will want Modou Sougou to get into the gala scoring form along with Rafael Bastos. Both of them haven’t found the back of the net in the last three matches. With Mumbai City on 27 points in 16 matches, they will want Arnold Issoko to combine with the other two strikers in order to get the better of ATK.

Head to head

The two teams have faced each other 11 times in the ISL. Both the teams have four matches each while three matches have ended in a draw. The match between the two of them which was played three months ago in the first leg of the league this season ended in a goalless draw.

Current form of the two teams

ATK is going into this game with after a drubbing they got from FC Goa last week. In the five matches prior to that, they have only one win to show and three draws. Mumbai City Fc has had a dismal three weeks having lost all their three matches starting with their loss to FC Goa at the beginning of this month. They have won two of their matches before that and have drawn one.

Prediction

Despite Mumbai City losing their last three matches in a row, they have the firepower to score against ATK. But Mumbai City FC has another match to go against Pune City FC. ATK, on the other hand, has to win this match. So I expect Mumbai City to tighten their defences and wait for ATK to make a mistake in their bid to score goals. I expect this match to end in a draw.

Score: ATK 0-0 Mumbai City