Mumbai City FC welcome NorthEast United FC to the Mumbai Football Arena on Thursday in Hero Indian Super League (ISL) 2017-18. The match will be a do-or-die encounter for the Islanders, who beat ATK in their last outing. The hosts lie seventh on the table with 20 points and need to win each of their remaining three fixtures to stay in contention for a playoff berth. One worrying aspect for the Islanders will be their poor home form having lost their last four encounters played at Mumbai. Speaking to indiansuperleague.com prior to the crucial fixture was midfielder Zakeer Mundampara and here are the excerpts from the interview. 

How has your season been so far with Mumbai?

It’s been going well. Now it has been four years in the Hero ISL for me. Initially I had an injury but now I am fine. It’s been going good for me and we face NorthEast next, which is going to be a very good match for us. Everything else is good. Mumbai is good, the team management is good, the coach is good and even the players are good. When I was injured, everyone helped me out a lot, even the senior players. That’s the reason I am here playing now. I am very happy and want to thank everyone. Arindam (Bhattacharja), Balwant (Singh) and Raju (Gaikwad) motivated me a lot, and hence I came this far. Now I am playing good, thanks to God. 

How important was the win against ATK in the previous encounter for the team?

The win was good for everyone, not only for me. We pushed hard and did not give up, and that’s the reason we won. The match was very important for the entire team which we won united and we were very happy after the victory. It gave us a push forward and we will try to perform better against NorthEast. We have to work hard, follow the coach’s instructions and eventually win the match. 

What will the strategy be against NorthEast?

We have to have a look at the coach’s plans. He’s the boss of our team, so he’s the one who will decide who is going to play, who is going to be on the bench and who will enter the match when. Depending on the situation he will take his decisions. So, let’s see what happens. 

Who, according to you, is NorthEast’s key player?

There’s no danger player as such. The new signings who have joined and even the Indian players are good in their squad. Their coach also got changed, so their results have improved. They played well in their last few matches. They have a good batch of players and even the new player (Maic) Sema is good, so we will keep an eye on him as well.