Bengaluru FC will be hoping to emerge victorious when they clash against FC Pune City at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex Stadium in Pune on Monday, in what will be their first away fixture of the new season. The Stallions have had a not so satisfactory start to their 2018-19 campaign and the Blues will be looking to add salt to their wounds by beating them on their home turf.

Erik Partaalu, Bengaluru’s holding midfielder, has been a pivotal part in the club’s success since his arrival and continues to do the same this season. Ahead of the encounter, indiansuperleague.com caught up with the Australian for an exclusive interview. Here are the excerpts:

On the new head coach.

I think it’s been an easy transition for us. We’ve obviously worked with Carles (Cuadrat) before, in the last season. So, nothing really has changed in terms of philosophy, but obviously, with the new coach comes new and fresh ideas, and I believe that we are even stronger than last year. We’ve had a good couple of months together and I think everyone is really happy with the way that we are going and it’s just an enjoyable environment at the moment. We want the good feelings to continue.

On Bengaluru’s good record against FC Pune City.

Difficult question to answer but let’s hope we can continue that trend. FC Pune City is a good side. They obviously reached the semi-finals last year and we were quite lucky, getting through the semi-finals against them. They have built another strong side, so we will have to be on our toes. In terms of records, they kind of go out of the window.

On the player who has impressed him the most in the squad.

I think that the whole team has been great. In AFC (Cup), obviously a little bit disappointing with the way it finished but for me, the pleasing thing is certainly someone like (Harmanjot) Khabra who has come from being a right-back last year to coming into the midfield and really showing his versatility. It’s not easy to change position, particularly when you got to go from a defensive wing position to the middle and I think he has adapted to that role tremendously well and he is doing well.

On Pune City’s biggest threat.

Everyone talks about the foreign guys from Pune City quite a lot, but for me, it’s Adil Khan. I’m a massive fan of his work rate in the middle of the park. He does a lot of the dirty work that no one really notices and gets himself on the scoresheet quite a lot. So, for me, it’s going to be you know, trying to stop him from making late runs into the box and trying to read his game, which is very difficult. And obviously, being up against him in a physical battle. I look forward to the challenge, but you know he is certainly one to watch out for. I was impressed with him last year and he has had a good start again this year. He’s a good presence on the pitch and it’s a good battle there.