NorthEast United FC’s first away fixture of Hero Indian Super League 2017-18 will see them travel to Chennai and take on Chennaiyin FC at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on Thursday. The Highlanders’ season opener saw them dominate Jamshedpur FC but fail to break the deadlock in the game as it ended 0-0 in Guwahati.

NorthEast head coach Joao de Deus though isn’t concerned by his side’s failure to score, insisting that as long as his team continues to create chances like they did against Jamshedpur, there should be nothing to worry about. “You have two ways to see the ‘problem’. The first is that, you don’t have chances, and you don’t even go close to the goal. That is a problem. The other situation is what happened (to us). We had chances, but we didn’t score. For me, that is not a problem, because we know how to reach there (the final-third). And I can tell you one more thing. No need to worry about the fact that we didn’t score. I know that at the end of the league, NEUFC is going to have the top goal-scorer in the league. So, I can tell you that there is nothing to worry about in this situation,” Deus told reporters at the pre-match press conference.

The Portuguese head coach had good news on the injury front for NorthEast supporters. “For me, injuries are not a concern, because we have to play with eleven players, so the concern is only when you cannot play with eleven. If I have a guy sent off, that’s a concern, an injury is not. I take the chance to also tell you that today, (Rowllin) Borges practised and is fully fit. So, if I have nobody injured, I can use the players that I want to. Everybody is perfect to play tomorrow. If anybody is injured, that’s not a concern for me, because I trust my players a lot, and the ideas that they know, and their reading of the game, so I don’t have concerns,” Deus said.

When asked for his assessment of Chennaiyin, Deus said: “I had the chance to watch the (Chennai-Goa) match, and the team has a decent style of play. The back three play with high pressure with three (more) players ahead, two midfielders and good full-backs pressing as well. So, they pressed high with six guys. But it was their first match, and of course they are going to improve a lot in the second game. The score is going to be completely different, because that was the first game, and they tried to press too high. With practice and with knowledge, the players are going to learn from each other and from the ideas of the coach.”