ISL 2017-18: ATK look to avenge 1-4 loss while Marcelinho will be back for Pune

ATK will take on FC Pune City tonight at the latter's home ground. Coach Teddy Sheringham wants his team to take Pune's poor home run as an advantage.

"I think you always want to be planning regarding your home game. You would like to get used to playing at your home ground and build it as a fortress. There is an advantage of playing at home and no doubt whether your form is patchy or not, you would still rather be playing at home. But we have to take the plus points out of that (Pune’s poor home form) and know that they haven’t had the best results yet. So, we come into the game with optimism," he said at the pre-match press conference.

ATK will also look to avenge their 1-4 defeat at their home turf.

"The result is all we want to change. That’s what it’s about. That’s what makes football so fun to be involved in. We weren’t happy with the 4 – 1 loss in the first game, and we are here to make amends for that. All that matters is the result at the end of the day."

Further talking about the problems that his side has had this season,

"Just because teams concede goals, it does not mean bad defending and if the team doesn’t score goals, it does not mean that the attack is not doing its job. As it happens, we have not scored as many goals as we would like. So, fingers do get pointed at the attackers. So, that is something that we are trying to work on. We have some fantastic goal scorers in our team and we hope they get goal-scoring opportunities. At the same time, we have to watch what goes on at the other end and build as a team. So, we will be looking at everything to improve in this game."

On the other hand, Pune City's assistant coach Vladica Grujic wants his team to be weary of ATK,

"Tomorrow, we face the champions from last year. They are a very strong opponent. We know how they play. We know how strong Zequinha is, how strong Robin (Singh) is, how strong (Ryan) Taylor or Hitesh (Sharma) or (Conor) Thomas is. I know everyone now. And we have to mobilise. We have to give everything to try to win this game."

Pune fans can be happy as Marcelinho will be back for this clash after serving the one match suspension.

"Marcelinho is ready for the match. Everyone knows how important he is for our team. He is a person who makes the difference."

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