Kerala Blasters FC pay a visit to the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium in Guwahati on Saturday to take on NorthEast United FC in Hero Indian Super League (ISL) 2017-18. Last season’s finalists can still make the playoffs provided they get maximum points from their remaining fixtures, and they would be looking to do so when they face the Highlanders. One of the budding young talents of the league has been Deependra Negi, who scored from his first touch in Hero ISL. The 19-year-old took time to speak with indiansuperleague.com for an exclusive interview and shared his thoughts. Here are the excerpts.

With three games left, how many points do you think will be enough for Kerala to qualify?

We have to win all the games, which means nine points. And it is very necessary to get the wins. Only then we will have a good chance of getting into the playoffs.

What is Kerala planning to do differently from here on?

Nothing has changed yet because we just have to win all the games. We have to give our best and we will deliver our best on the field to win all three games.

Given NorthEast’s recent form, would you start as favourites?

That is not entirely true. The result does not matter. No team is bad and no team is good. So, the team which will play better on the day will win and we are going to give our best and not take any team lightly.

How important is Dimitar Berbatov’s presence on the field?

He is very important. His presence really makes a difference because we learn so many things from him. He has so much experience. So there are many things to learn from him.