Sunday brought an end to the ninth match-week of Hero Indian Super League (ISL) 2017-18. The past week saw some surprise results, the renaissance of a few players, and the usual dose of action and drama. Kerala, under the management of David James have seemingly become an unstoppable force, while both league debutants – Bengaluru FC and Jamshedpur FC – faced setbacks. The Lions came up with the upset of the season so far, as a very familiar face in the league was rampant when it came to scoring. Here are the results from the week gone by, and some of the key talking points.

Match 43: Delhi Dynamos FC 1 – 3 Kerala Blasters FC (Match Report)

Match 44: FC Goa 2 – 1 Jamshedpur FC (Match Report)

Match 45: NorthEast United FC 0 – 1 ATK (Match Report)

Match 46: Chennaiyin FC 1 – 0 FC Pune City (Match Report)

Match 47: Delhi Dynamos FC 2 – 0 Bengaluru FC (Match Report)

Match 48: Mumbai City FC 0 – 1 Kerala Blasters FC (Match Report)

James’ Kerala on a roll as Hume finally comes good: After a poor start to the season, the Blasters changed management with their former custodian David James taking over the role of head coach. The two-time finalists are yet to taste defeat during the former Liverpool goalkeeper’s tenure and won both their matches during the week. All their four goals were scored by Hero ISL’s all-time leading goal-scorer Iain Hume, with the Canadian bagging a hat-trick against Delhi.

Week of woes for league debutants: Jamshedpur FC succumbed to Manuel Lanzarote’s brace as they conceded twice in a match for the second time in a row. Fellow league debutants Bengaluru FC were on the receiving end of the shock of the season so far as rock-bottom Delhi handed them a 2 – 0 defeat, riding on goals from Lallianzuala Chhangte and Guyon Fernandez. This was only the Lions’ second victory of the campaign, the first one coming in the opening fixture against Pune,

Both the former Hero ISL champions eke out 1 – 0 wins: ATK and Chennaiyin FC won their matches 1 – 0 against NorthEast United FC and FC Pune City respectively. For the defending champions Zequinha secured their third win of the campaign which places them in seventh position, whereas, Gregory Nelson struck late to ensure that Chennaiyin finished the week in top spot.