NorthEast United FC travel to the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi to take on Kerala Blasters FC in Hero Indian Super League (ISL) 2017-18 on Friday. The Highlanders have never beaten the Blasters at Kochi, and head into the contest on the back of a 1-0 defeat against Bengaluru FC. Speaking to the media at the pre-match press conference was NorthEast head coach Joao de Deus. He began by pointing out that although his team were yet to win at the venue, it will not have any effect on their performance on the day.

“I have good feelings for the next game,” he stated. “It’s not because NorthEast have never beaten Kerala (in Kochi) that I change my feelings. That was in the past. That has nothing to do with what is going to happen tomorrow. I’m confident that tomorrow we’re going to do good and have a good match.”

Deus also spoke about how he expects Kerala to play after the hosts’ 5-2 humbling at the hands of FC Goa in their previous match. “I know that this team is a strong team on the wings,” he inferred. “They play a lot of their game on the wings. They are a strong team who had a bad day in the last game. People in sport know that one bad day cannot make you a bad team, this is a continuous process. They analyse what they’ve done wrong as we did. Tomorrow they will change the behaviour that wasn’t good from their perspective as we do.”

He further shared some good news regarding shot-stopper TP Rehenesh. “The only injury that we had was TP (Rehenesh) during the warm-up of the last game,” Deus revealed. “He couldn’t kick with his right foot in the last game. During the week he got completely well and will kick with his right foot tomorrow.”

Before wrapping up, the Portuguese head coach discussed Kerala’s passionate fans and the hostile reception the Highlanders can expect. “It’s a very hostile crowd, great for the home team,” he explained. “If the home team is playing well, and we’re playing badly it’s great for the home team. If we’re playing well, and the home team is playing badly, the crowd has lots of passion for sure, and is not going to be happy with the team and start shouting. It’ll be good for us and bad for them.”