Kerala Blasters FC will be in action in the Hero Indian Super League (Hero ISL) 2018-19 after an eight-day gap when they take on Jamshedpur FC at the JRD Tata Sports Complex. Kerala will be looking for their second win of the season, having won the season opener against ATK and drawn their away matches against Mumbai City FC and Delhi Dynamos FC respectively.

Kerala head coach David James was at the pre-match press conference to take questions about the upcoming match. The Englishman predicted a tough match for his side at the Furnace, and said, "Of course, it’s an interesting match. They have tremendous intent and they are a great team. They have started the season very well, like us. It’s an interesting matchup."

The former England national team goalkeeper also insisted that his team will go into the match full of confidence but will be cautious of Jamshedpur's quality. "I’m always confident. I look at the side and I’ll be picking a side that is confident going into the match. Nothing happened in training that suggests I shouldn’t be confident for the game. I’m respectful of the opposition, of course. Jamshedpur, in particular, have a good side and a good manager and there’s a lot of quality there. It’ll be a challenge, but we’ll be confident," he said.

Kerala beat two-time champions ATK on the opening day of the season but were held to 1-1 draws in their next two matches by Mumbai and Delhi respectively. In both matches, Kerala took the lead but conceded late goals. James admitted that the way these two matches played out was frustrating and said, "The game against Mumbai was down to a wonder goal in the 90th minute. The game against Delhi was tremendously frustrating because we had two situations that cost us the game. We lost four points in situations where, on a normal day, we should’ve won."

Kerala defender Anas Edathodika will be available for selection for the first time this season, after serving his three-game suspension and the player accompanied the head coach to the presser. James announced that Anas' return will be a big boost to the squad and will hand him a different option going forward. “Anas is sitting next to me is available for once and it puts a different perspective on team selection. It makes the whole group much more competitive. As a coach, what you want is everybody fighting for a place,” he said.

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