After a stuttering start to the 2018-19 season, which saw them lose both of their opening matches, defending champions Chennaiyin FC will return to the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Chennai on Thursday in search of an elusive first win of the season. Lying in their wait are the impressive NorthEast United FC, who enter the encounter full of confidence, having earned four points from a maximum six so far this season.

Ahead of the clash between the two teams, indiansuperleague.com caught up with Chennaiyin No.1 Karanjit Singh. The goalkeeper discussed a range of topics in an exclusive interview and here are the excerpts:

On the draw against China and the importance of playing against a higher-ranked opposition.

I think it was a great achievement. It’s good for the national team when you play against big teams. You can learn a lot from playing against a good team like China who have a good rating. They have played against big teams like Wales and Czech Republic. I think it was a very good moment for everyone, the Indian players and the people of India when we drew against China.

Thoughts on being back with the national squad and on Gurpreet Singh Sandhu’s performance against China?

It was a great moment for me as it would be for everyone when you get the call from the national team. It is a big moment when you wear the national team jersey because every player’s dream is to play for the national team. I think I got the chance after one and half months and it was great for me. I think it’s all about hard work which I had done with my national team in the past, and with Chennaiyin FC. Gurpreet played really well. We could have conceded goals in three or four occasions. He had a great performance in the last match.

On Chennaiyin FC’s tough start.

The season has just started. The first match we played very well against Bengaluru who are a strong team. In the second match, we conceded silly goals. Here we have been training for one week and as a team, we will perform and we will be back soon. Next match we have against NorthEast and we would like to take three points in this home game since we have two away matches after that, which are tough.

Thoughts on the match against NorthEast United FC.

This time we have lost the last two matches and we don’t have a point yet. Since it’s our home game we would like to take three points and after that, we have two away fixtures. So, if we do well and get the three points we can get our confidence back and there would be a good mood in the squad.

Message for the fans.

Fans are our backbone. They are our 12th man. We would like them to come to the stadium and support us like they have been doing in the past matches. So, I want to say, please come to the stadium and support us.