Mumbai City FC marquee player-cum-coach Nicolas Anelka eyes victory ahead of their 2015 Hero Indian Super League game against Chennaiyin FC at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Chennai on Tuesday. Mumbai have very remote chances to qualify and not only will they have to beat Chennaiyin FC and Atlético de Kolkata (on December 4), they will also have to hope that NorthEast United FC lose against FC Pune City and Chennaiyin FC draw against the Stallions. If these results come Mumbai’s way, they will be level on 19 points with FC Pune City but they may still not be able to qualify as they have a goal difference of -8 as compared to -4 of the Stallions as of now, and that means they will have to register really big wins against Chennaiyin FC and Atlético de Kolkata.

If FC Pune City and Mumbai City FC’s goal-differences end up being the same, then the team scoring the most number of goals in the league stage will advance. If again, there is a stalemate as regards the number of goals, then the Stallions will go through on the basis of having taken four points from the two league games against Anelka’s men earlier in the season. The former France international understands the magnitude of the task.

“Mathematically, we still have a chance to qualify, so we’ll be playing to win the game. We need to play our best, the players need to believe in themselves,” Anelka told reporters ahead of the game on Monday.

Anelka didn’t play in Mumbai’s last game against Kerala Blasters FC. When enquired about his fitness status ahead of the game against the Super Machans, he said: “I’m still a little bit injured. But I’ll be putting out my best team to take on Chennai. We have to be really careful as they are a strong team. Hopefully, tomorrow we register our first away win this season.”

Last year when Mumbai went to Chennai they received a 5-1 hiding. When asked will that be that at the back of his mind going into this game, Anelka said: “I think it’s a good thing that we are aware of how they play, the tactics used by them. It’s stressful for my team I know, since we lost [last year] home [3-0] and away. But in football, each game is different. We can’t predict the results.”