Kerala Blasters FC will be looking to create daylight between themselves and Chennaiyin FC in the 2016 Hero Indian Super League table when they host the defending champions at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi on Saturday. Kerala head into the contest with 12 points from nine games, while Chennai have notched up 10 points from their eight outings so far.The Blasters scored a dramatic late winner in their last match against FC Goa and head coach Steve Coppell believes that the win has had a positive effect on the dressing room morale. “After a win everything is magnified in this league and when you lose everything is written off so we have to be more on earth and on an even keel. Every game is a challenge and when I look at the league, upsets are happening frequently. Like, you expect a team to win and then you see the result and something else happens,” Coppell told reporters at the pre-match press conference.He continued: “Without doubt every team in this league is capable of beating any team so that is why I say you can never relax, you really have to be solid in your preparation and have a strong mentality and that's how I would like to come into this match. We can control how we prepare and concentrate.”The last encounter between Kerala and Chennai ended in a 0-0 draw but Coppell made his side's intentions clear ahead of the second south Indian derby this season. “From our point of view, we want to win and sometimes your observations are that we are not attacking much but I think we try to attack as much as we can. The players we have available do have an attacking mentality and I have always said we are disciplined defensively but we don't concentrate only on defence, like I have said, we do like to attack and go forward. Chennaiyin's defeat [4-1 against Delhi Dynamos FC in their last game] does not really affect our preparation and from our point of view the only thing we control is our attitude and our play and we are ready for them,” he said.The return of CK Vineeth and Rino Anto from AFC Cup participation with Bengaluru FC has bolstered the Blasters' options in attack and defence. When asked if Anto's presence as a full-back means a change of role for Josu Currais, who has diligently gone about his business at left-back, Coppell said: “I don't think we are restricting Josu even though he is playing at left-back and he is one of our most creative players going forward and he has a strong left foot. He is involved in a lot of our attacks going forward and if he wasn't there we would miss him in that position. If we had a natural left-footed left-back…that would be ideal and Rino has played as left-back but he is right-footed, so is that ideal? No it isn't, but it does give me an option, yes it does.”When asked how important it was for them to at least get one point from each of their five remaining matches in the league stage, Coppell said: “I don't look at it like that and my job is to prepare the team and as the whistle goes off it's down to the players to perform. And do I set targets for games? No, absolutely not. I want us to play well and I think we will get a good result and if we get five good results I think the season will take care of itself.”The 61-year-old also admitted that he was still learning about the attributes of their match-winner against Goa, midfielder CK Vineeth. “I don't know I am still learning very much about his capabilities. He has great energy and the way he performed for Bengaluru he showed he is capable of playing in the middle by himself. Last season, he played in wide areas [for Kerala] and he can play in so many positions and I think it is great to have this flexibility among the Indian players and it does give you more options. I think if you asked him which position is best for him, he himself might not know as he just wants to play and because he is a team player he would even play in the goal if I asked him and I hope we will see him perform consistently till the end of the season and I think to anchor him in any position would be wrong as he has got more to offer than that,” said Coppell.
