FC Pune City will hope to seize the home advantage and score their second win on the trot when they host Kerala Blasters FC at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex tomorrow. Both teams head into this fixture hoping to carry forward the momentum from their previous games. Fifth-placed Pune registered their first win of the Hero Indian Super League against FC Goa in their first home game, while seventh-placed Kerala came from behind to salvage their first point away at league leaders Atlético de Kolkata.

This will be the fourth game on the road for Kerala and player-head coach David James faces a tough task of motivating his team to keep their chin up. They have dished out an attacking brand of football but luck has not been on their side. On the other hand, Pune City manager Franco Colomba will look to stick with the tactics that earned him a comfortable win last Sunday.

Bruno Cirillo vs Iain Hume

This promises to be an interesting battle between Kerala’s in-form Canadian striker Iain Hume, who will try to make it three goals from three games, and the Pune defence in which Italian centre-back Bruno Cirillo and countryman Daniele Magliochetti have maintained a clean sheet in the two games they have played together. Hume’s movement can cause problems for rival defences and he can expect to be heavily marked throughout the game.

Israil Gurung vs Nirmal Chettri

Colombo has shown immense faith in Israil Gurung, and the pacy winger with his quick feet and cut-ins, and the ability to turn a defender with change in pace, can be a constant menace to the rival defence. It will be up to Kerala’s Nirmal Chettri to keep Gurung at bay, and the Sikkimese defender looks up to the task, with solid performances in the past two games at right-back. Chettri is a threat going forward too, and will want to impress in this role as well.

Konstantinos Katsouranis vs Mehtab Hossain

‘Kostas’ Katsouranis is the kingpin of the Pune midfield and was brilliant against Goa, partnering Lenny Rodrigues in tracking the attackers, and also popping up with a goal, Pune’s first in the competition. The 2014 Greek World Cup captain will have to contend with Kerala’s lionhearted holding midfielder Mehtab Hossain for control of the park. The tough-tackling Kolkata player doesn’t yield an inch and the commitment that he brings to his game will make this an interesting battle to watch.

Players to watch

FC Pune City

David Trezeguet: Pune City marquee player David Trezeguet showed a characteristic poacher’s instinct to pounce on a miscued pass to the keeper and open his goal scoring account against Goa. Having gotten off the mark, the Frenchman will be eager to add to his tally.

Kerala Blasters FC

Penn Orji: Captain Penn Orji has been in the thick of things in the middle of the park. The Nigerian midfielder will be hoping to inspire his troops to their first win with some inspirational playmaking. Maybe, he will be able to conjure up those killer passes to help his teammates find the target.

Team Speak

Franco Colomba (FC Pune City head coach): The team is improving slowly, but it is difficult to implement things when you play three games in a week.

Michael Chopra (Kerala Blasters FC striker): Football is a funny game. We dominated the first two games in possession and in attack, but we lost those. And comparatively, we didn’t do that well in the previous game, but came away with a draw.