Chennaiyin FC will be looking to strengthen their grip at the summit of Hero Indian Super League (ISL) 2017-18 when they meet Jamshedpur FC at the JRD Tata Sports Complex in Jamshedpur on Thursday. The southerners will be looking to extend their one-point lead at the top of the table and their head coach John Gregory is expecting a battle against Jamshedpur, who have the meanest defence in the league, having conceded just once this season.

“I know that Steve’s team will be very hard working. When I stayed in England, his players always worked very hard. If you don’t work hard, you don’t play in his team. And we’ve always watched them on TV many times this season and they always work very hard, every single player. So, you know when you play against them, you have to compete,” Gregory told reporters at the pre-match press conference.

He continued: “You have to be ready for a battle. So, all my players know exactly the kind of game that we will be expecting tomorrow night. It will be a tough game seeing they don’t concede many goals. Not scored many goals either so far. But the fact that their defence is very, very tight will make it a really, really tough game for us. But we are very aware of what to expect. The pitch has improved. I am not so nervous about the pitch as I was previously.”

The 63-year-old also fondly recalled his playing days against his counterpart in the dugout, Jamshedpur head coach Steve Coppell. “Steve and I have played against each other back in the late 70’s. I had black hair and he had hair,” Gregory quipped. “He was an outstanding player. Very humble. I don’t think we have coached against each other. We were in different divisions at various times. But he did a great job for Kerala last year and he is doing a great job this year too.”

When asked for his thoughts on there being no relegation in the Hero ISL, Gregory added: “I think it’s a good thing there isn’t relegation. As a coach you see what happens in Europe. They change the coaches every six months. There is a lot of instability in football clubs. Sometimes coaches don’t get the amount of time they should get to do the job as best as they can because the owners conceive that they slide towards the relegation zone and it’s time for them to change the coach.”