FC Goa travel to the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi to take on Kerala Blasters FC in Hero Indian Super League (ISL) 2017-18 on Sunday. The Gaurs are playing after a 10-day rest and are a refreshed lot, who’ll be looking to get consecutive wins, coming off the back of a 2 – 1 win over Jamshedpur FC in their previous fixture. Goa will also be high on confidence having beaten the two-time finalists 5 – 2 in the reverse fixture at home.

Speaking to the media during the pre-match press conference was Goa’s head coach Sergio Lobera, and he insisted that his side was not looking at past results. “What happened in the past is in the past, and we are not going to focus on that anymore,” he said referring to the 5 – 2 victory over Kerala earlier this season. “Regardless of whether we are playing at home or away from home, all the teams are equally balanced, so I don’t think it has much of a bearing in terms of the final result.”

The Gaurs have been free-scoring, but have not kept a clean sheet this season, regarding which Lobera said, “I think that even if we had conceded less goals, it wouldn’t have meant that we get more points. I think we are the team with the most amount of goals in the league. It is true that we haven’t kept a clean sheet so far and we need to improve defensively, but we are a team that plays with an attacking formation and mindset. We aren’t going to give up our offensive style of football, but we will try to find that defensive balance when we play tomorrow.”

The 41-year-old also mentioned that although Kerala had a new head coach, it will hardly change his team’s approach to the fixture. “Ultimately, you need to be strong regardless of how the other team is doing,” Lobera explained. “It is true that Kerala have a new manager, but we need to remain true to our philosophy and continue to do what we have been doing so far. We will be looking for the three points, and it is very important for us.”

The Spaniard further continued, “I think Kerala is a good team in general. I think they are a well-structured team with some really good players, and they have been showing that on the field too, lately. They have players with a lot of quality, and their attack is also very potent in terms of the quality they have up there. They are a strong team that we need to be wary of.”