After a comprehensive victory over Jamshedpur, Chennaiyin FC gear up to take on Odisha FC in their third away game of the 2022-23 Hero Indian Super League. The two sides go head-to-head at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar on Thursday at 7.30 PM IST. Chennaiyin FC are unbeaten in away matches this season having won their games against ATK Mohun Bagan and East Bengal FC. The Juggernauts are arriving in this match after staging a perfect comeback win over East Bengal while the Marina Machans are high on confidence following an impressive win over Jamshedpur FC.
Talking about the possibility of a high-scoring game during the pre-match press conference, Chennaiyin head coach Brdaric agreed and mentioned, “Of course. Both teams like to play offensively. But it all depends on a lot of things like how both the teams play against the ball.”
The two sides last faced each other at the Kalinga Stadium back in 2020, a game that Odisha emerged victorious. However, the teams have played each other four times in the league since, with Chennaiyin winning twice and drawing two.
Aware of Odisha’s ability to come back in the second half, Thomas Brdaric said his men are looking forward to an exciting game ahead. “Odisha are having a good season under an experienced coach. And to beat them, we have to play professionally and show our abilities. I’m looking forward to it because it will be an interesting match.
“We have analyzed them. They try to implement their strengths; they’re known to score and we are working on how to deny them. We don’t have to give them spaces to exploit and our pressing must be very good tomorrow.”
Odisha FC head coach reacts
However, under Josep Gombau, Odisha have been in tremendous form in the ongoing season, registering four wins from six games. The Juggernauts are good in the attack, having scored 10 goals, and interestingly, eight of them have come in the second half. They are the only side to pick up the most points coming from behind.
The head coach asserted, ” We are very excited to play in front of our fans. We are expecting a good game tomorrow, Every team can beat any team in this league so, we have to be careful and concentrate on our job, ” Talking about the ability of Chennaiyin, Josep mentioned, ” Cheeniayin FC have a very good with a very good coach. It will be a difficult game for sure. However, we have our own plans for every team. I hope that we would get all three points tomorrow.”
In terms of head-to-head the two sides have played each other on six occasions, with Chennaiyin winning two against Odisha’s one, while three outings between the two teams have ended in a stalemate.
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