Defending champions ATK return to the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan in Kolkata for their first home match of Hero Indian Super League (ISL) 2017-18 against FC Pune City on Sunday. ATK dominated Kerala Blasters FC in the season opener but failed to score as the sides settled for a draw. On Sunday, ATK would want to get their campaign up and running with their first win of the season.

Speaking to the media at the pre-match press conference, ATK head coach Teddy Sheringham admitted that playing in front of ATK’s huge fanbase will be of slight advantage as they are not familiar with the stadium, yet. “It (the stadium) should be an advantage because it’s our home ground. But we would have loved to have trained on the ground, so that we got to know our surroundings. You may think that sounds funny, but (it’s advantageous) to get to know your surroundings on a football pitch, to understand where you are in some parts of the stadium because you don’t always have a chance to lift your head up. Sometimes, you only see from the peripheral sides of your eyes. So, it is important to know where you are in cohesion with the rest of the ground, and the more you play on the pitch, the more you play in the stadium, you get to understand that,” Sheringham explained.

He also acknowledged that Pune will be a difficult opponent to beat due to the presence of quality and proven players who have played in the Hero ISL before. “Yeah, I think it (having proven players) is an advantage, and that is why we have to be in top form because they understand what might be coming tomorrow,” he said. “They have a slight advantage, which is why we have to prepare better than normal so that we counter that advantage. We get an insight from different Indian players. I don’t think there is a lot of experience (in Hero ISL) other than those of Indian players.”

The former Manchester United striker also explained that while there were nagging injuries in the squad, his team would have to learn to cope with them. “We have a 25-man squad, so we should be okay with injuries. It always seems that you have a couple of injuries, and then you get them back and there are a couple more. So, we have had a fair few injuries. We only barely managed to get a full squad on the bench for our last game. We have a couple of players coming back. It is great for a coach to have options to choose from, but we have to taper our training accordingly,” he concluded.