Struggling Delhi hunt for elusive first win against Mumbai

Nine matches into the season, Delhi Dynamos FC are still on the lookout for their first victory of Hero Indian Super League (Hero ISL) 2018-19 and the Lions will be hoping they can finally notch up that elusive win when they host Mumbai City FC at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi on Monday.

02 Dec, 2018

Delhi are currently rooted to the bottom of the Hero ISL table with just four points and face an uphill task against a Mumbai side, which has gone unbeaten in their last four matches. The Islanders, too, will be looking for a win in order to strengthen their claim for a top-four spot.

Delhi Dynamos FC

The Lions have struggled this season and are enduring their worst start to a Hero ISL campaign ever. Despite their performance levels improving in the last few outings, Josep Gombau's men have failed to convert them into wins. The team has had issues across the board. The forward line has been misfiring, the midfield has looked mediocre and the defence has been guilty of letting in too many soft goals, especially late ones. Eleven of the 14 goals conceded by Delhi so far have come in the second-half.

Perhaps, the only positive for the Lions this season has been Lallianzuala Chhangte. The young winger has been at the centre of everything good Delhi have managed to do going forward and is also the team's leading scorer with two goals. Chhangte will undoubtedly be the biggest threat for Mumbai on Monday.

Here’s a look at Delhi’s current season in numbers:

Mumbai City FC

After somewhat of an inconsistent start to their season, Mumbai have hit their stride of late, winning three and drawing one of their last four matches. Interestingly, the Islanders' unbeaten streak began with a 2-0 home win over Delhi back in October.

The most impressive part of Mumbai's four-match unbeaten streak has been their defensive record. The Mumbai defence, led by Lucian Goian and Subhasish Bose, has managed to keep clean sheets in each of these four matches and will look to continue the trend.

On the flipside, Mumbai have struggled going forward, scoring just seven goals in eight matches. The Islanders have been somewhat over-reliant on Modou Sougou and Arnold Issoko while going forward and have found it hard to break down the opposition defence whenever one of them fails to click.

Here’s a look at Mumbai’s current season in numbers:

PROBABLE LINE-UPS:

DELHI DYNAMOS FC: Albino Gomes (GK), Pritam Kotal (C), Narayan Das, Marti Crespi, Gianni Zuiverloon, Bikramjit Singh, Lallianzuala Chhangte, Marcos Tebar, Rene Mihelic, Nandhakumar Sekar, Adria Carmona

MUMBAI CITY FC: Amrinder Singh (GK), Sauvik Chakrabarti, Joyner Lourenco, Lucian Goian, Subhasish Bose, Sehnaj Singh, Paulo Machado (C), Milan Singh, Modou Sougou, Arnold Issoko, Rafael Bastos

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