High on three successive wins, Mumbai City FC are ready for defending champions Atlético de Kolkata on Sunday in the 2015 Hero Indian Super League and marquee player-cum-coach Nicolas Anelka has asked his players to keep up the good work as they needed more wins to qualify for the semis.Mumbai managed just one point from their first three matches before returning to contention with three straight wins, and if they beat ATK on Sunday at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai (their fifth consecutive match at home), they can join FC Pune City at the top on 13 points.“It’s not bad but even in the last season we were in the same position and finished with 14 or 15 points so when I speak to my players I think it’s good, we won three games, that’s good but it’s not finished, let’s do it again we have many games to come and we have to fight because the main point is fighting on the pitch. Thereafter maybe we’ll be able to reach the semis. Right now we’re happy but in football things can change very quickly. Three games before we were last [in the table] and today we’re in a good position,” Anelka told reporters on Saturday.In the history of the ISL, no team has ever won four matches in a row. When asked how he was planning on setting a new record, Anelka said: “There’s no plan, we play at home. I think we all want to win the game. I think everyone wants to win. On the pitch it’s a different game so we go on the pitch tomorrow knowing we’re playing at home. Of course, we want to win but we know we are playing against a good team tomorrow, so it’ll be tough to win but we’ll try our best on the pitch and see what happens.”ATK, on the other hand, have had contrasting fortunes losing their last three matches. However, Anelka refused to write them off. “…No easy game. It’s going to be hard, it’s a good team even if it’s hard for them right now. We had this hard time as well in the beginning when we started. Now it’s going to be hard. Like I said it’s a good team, they play good football so we’ll see,” the former Arsenal striker said.The former France international was also effusive in praise of striker Sunil Chhetri who has scored six goals in four matches. ”I’m happy with him, he’s scoring goals; he is a quality player. I’m very pleased to have him in Mumbai, it’s a big plus for us because he is clever and he has a good ability to score goals and he’s a fighter so I’m very pleased with him,” Anelka said.Meanwhile, ATK assistant coach Bastab Roy was confident his team wasn’t far from returning to winning ways. “It is not a difficult task. It happens in the world of football. We’ll make a comeback!” Roy said.Roy also informed that Javi Lara and Valdo had recovered from their injuries and were available for selection.
