NorthEast United FC will look to return to the top half of the 2016 Hero Indian Super League when they face Mumbai City FC at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium in Guwahati on Saturday. The Highlanders have recently encountered a dip in form with two consecutive losses at home. From being league leaders, they have slowly slipped down the ladder and currently lie fifth on the table. All that could change on Saturday with a win against Mumbai. However, a victory against Alexandre Guimaraes’ men will take some doing.

The Mumbaikars have been in good form recently, especially away from home. NorthEast, on the other hand, have lost their last two matches in Guwahati against Chennaiyin FC and Atlético de Kolkata. Highlanders head coach Nelo Vingada is aware of the situation but he rallied behind his team ahead of the Mumbai game. “Even though we lost the last two games, they were special as they were played at home and the most important thing is now to get points from our remaining matches and as far as the performance and attitude of the team is concerned, I am satisfied,” Vingada told the media on Friday.

“I cannot regret anything as our players did everything that they could do, we didn’t play too much up front or didn’t press forward, and in these last two games we were not lucky. Looking at the qualification scenario, it is open for everyone to qualify and tomorrow’s game against Mumbai becomes most important, it is a crucial game for our target and they are a good team who played well in their last two games winning in Kolkata and drawing in Chennai.”

Vingada’s team had a rollicking start to their campaign winning back-to-back matches over Kerala Blasters FC and FC Goa but were stopped in their tracks by Mumbai themselves. Reflecting on that defeat earlier in the season, Vingada said: “It is very important to collect the three points. We lost against them before by penalty and even though we lost, we played well and as you know some of the players have not recovered completely and hence cannot play but this is part of the game and the players that are on the field tomorrow must give their best. They should feel our potential has no limits and we have to win.”

When quizzed about injury concerns surrounding his team, Vingada said: “Romaric, [Nico] Velez and [Subrata] Paul will be out for sure tomorrow. Nico has almost recovered but does not feel fully confident so he will not play and of course we will have the best 11 players on the pitch.”

The 63-year-old Portuguese was also not bothered by injury to both his Indian goalkeepers, TP Rehenesh and Subrata Paul, and dispelled all concerns about the team combination. “No [TP] Rehenesh has not recovered as he had a hard injury during training before the game in Delhi. He is not fit 100%. I will have to play with five Indians up front but as I say this is part of the game and I will sleep well as usual,” he said.