Gianluca Zambrotta and his Delhi Dynamos side are looking for their second win in this season's ISL and their first after the 3-1 defeat of champions Chennaiyin away at the Marina Arena.
The Italian manager would have been disappointed with his side's 1-0 loss to ATK in their last match as Marcelinho missed a penalty against the 10-man opposition, only to concede a penalty of their own as Iain Hume scored against them from the spot.
Anas Edathodika's return from injury will be a relief for the Delhi camp as the Kerala centre-back is expected to partner Ruben Gonzalez at the centre of defence. Marquee player Florent Malouda will also likely be rested after he started the last match, with Bruno Pelissari expected to get the nod.
Zambrotta hinted that he was not happy with his team's attack, “I think that the equation is somewhat same because in the last game we had quite a lot of opportunities to score. Unfortunately, we did not kill the match but again when we have a lot of opportunities to score then it’s not a problem for me. Just of course we have to follow the same philosophy and try to learn from our mistake and get better in the next game.”
Pune City came back from behind to draw against Chennaiyin in their last match, and Anibal Zurdo, who scored a beauty of an equaliser, will surely have done enough to put himself in line for a start.
Antonio Habas, Pune's coach, has been critical of the refereeing standards in the ISL this season, “I think that the general Indian player is improving but there must be improvement in controlling tackles. We might have a serious problem because it is not the same to play strong and play violent. And the referees here have the same treatment for a strong tackle and a violent tackle…we respect that the Indian players improve every day and we want competition but I feel there should be more control in this respect.”
Arata Izumi, who was anonymous in the last match and may make way for Lenny Rodrigues as the rest of the line-up should remain unchanged.
Match Facts
Venue: Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Delhi
Capacity: 60,000
Time: 7 pm IST.
Last Meeting: Delhi Dynamos 3 - 1 FC Pune City, November 19th, 2015, at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, New Delhi
Head-to-head: Matches: 4, Delhi: 3, Pune: 0, Draws: 1
Key Battles
Anibal Zurdo vs Anas Edathodika: Zurdo, the Mexican, was on the bench for the last match but turned the game around when he beat Duwayne Kerr. Looked the liveliest of the attackers when he came on.
Edathodika, so impressive for the capital outfit last season, went off injured in Delhi's first game but is in line for a return against the Stallions. Will have to be at his best to shackle Zurdo.
Richard Gadze vs Eduardo Ferreira: The Ghanian striker and last season's top scorer for Delhi showed glimpses of his quality in the last game. Won the penalty that Marcelinho missed.
The 33-year old Brazilian defender Ferreira had put in impressive shifts in all his previous matches but was partly culpable for the goal that Jeje Lalpekhlua scored against the Stallions. Gadze will be a tougher opponent.
Squads:
Delhi Dynamos FC: Antonio Doblas Santana; Ruben Gonzalez Rocha, Anas Edathodika, Chinglesana Konsham Singh, Souvik Chakraborty; Rupert Nongrum, Bruno Pelissari, Marcos Tebar, Milan Singh, Marcelinho; Richard Gadze
FC Pune City: Edel Bete; Rahul Bheke, Narayan Das, Dharmaraj Ravanan, Eduardo Ferreira; Jonathan Lucca, Lenny Rodrigues, Mohamed Sissoko, Sanju Pradhan; Anibal Zurdo Rodriguez, Jesus Rodriguez Tato
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