Two-time Hero Indian Super League (Hero ISL) champions ATK will be facing off against a struggling FC Pune City side at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan, Kolkata, this Saturday. The Kolkata based side are placed 7th in the standings with seven points from the six games played. With the Stallions languishing at the bottom of the table, ATK will be hoping to make the most of their opponent's poor form by picking up all three points from the fixture.

A day prior to the encounter, ATK head coach Steve Coppell was present at the pre-match press conference to take questions from the media. He began by giving an update on striker Kalu Uche’s situation, who picked up an injury in the previous match against Bengaluru FC. “Kalu has gone back to Barcelona. Kalu had an extensive tear in his quadriceps muscle – a grade three, which is quite bad. He has gone back to Barcelona to seek further medical treatment there,” Coppell revealed.

“It obviously leaves a hole in our squad. We’ve requested the Hero ISL if we can replace him for a short time. They have said yes, we can. But that creates a problem in itself, because trying to find somebody for a short period of time is very, very, difficult. We are trying to replace him till the Christmas break. We expect him to be fit by January. So, we’re only looking for someone to fill in for what will be five games after this game. We can’t get anyone for this game because we only had league approval last night. So, we’ll be looking quickly,” he added.

When asked about the issues he would like to address in the upcoming international break, the Englishman emphasized on the importance of picking up points regularly. “Well, in the Bengaluru game I thought we could’ve got something out of that game. Obviously at this stage now, every game takes on added significance. As some of the teams are pulling away at the top, you realize that unless you’re picking up regular points, you’re going to be left behind. So, we need to pick up points,” he opined.

Coppell also spoke about his side’s preparations for their upcoming encounter and said, “We’re going to do what we always do. We work hard and prepare to try and win the next game. This is the only mentality I have and the players have responded well this week in training. We’re looking forward to the game against a Pune side, who obviously have got a suspension (Marcelo Pereira), but they are still a good team and a good side,” he said.