ATK renew hostilities with Kerala Blasters FC in Hero Indian Super League (ISL) 2017-18 at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan in Kolkata on Thursday. The defending champions are on a poor run of form having lost all of their previous four encounters, with the last three being at home. Their chances of qualifying for the playoffs have taken a severe beating, and nothing less than a win would do against the team they have beaten twice to be crowned as champions.

ATK’s interim head coach Ashley Westwood spoke to the media during the pre-match press conference and maintained that his team still had a chance of qualifying. “We are still in with a fighting chance,” he said. “If we win every game, we will finish with 27 points. That gives us a fighting chance and a little bit of hope.”

Speaking about the mentality of the players in his team, the Englishman said, “The lads are professional footballers and they need to play for their careers and for their contracts. So, if they don’t do the correct things, if they don’t show the endeavour and desire, they may find themselves out of ISL.”

The 41-year-old also mentioned that while they lost the previous match to league leaders Bengaluru FC, there were plenty of positives from that performance. “In the last match, I thought, we completely dominated Bengaluru FC and they sit seven points clear at the top of the league,” Westwood stated. “So, we don’t need any more positives than that. I’m sure there are not many teams that have dominated Bengaluru and pinned them back. We got chance after chance and did not convert. But that was certainly an encouraging performance.”

On being asked about how he would motivate his players for a tough upcoming fixture, he replied, “It comes down to characters. As far as I am concerned it’s not difficult at all. So, in football, whether you play to win in training or whether you play to win on a field, for me it’s second nature. That’s the kind of mentality we are trying to instil to these players.”

He also added, “For me, you have to motivate and win football matches. And I’m sure they will be fine tomorrow. They can take encouragement from the last performance and if we play like we did against Bengaluru, we will be fine.”

Westwood, however, shared some bad news regarding injuries in his team. “Robbie Keane had a groin injury; a soft tissue,” he revealed. “He had a scan in the week. Looks like it could be a while. He certainly won’t be available tomorrow. We suffered another injury during the morning training when David Cotterill got injured. It looks like it could be long-term as well. So currently we have Robbie Keane possibly medium to long-term, Cotterill long-term and Zequinha long-term.”