PREVIEW: Mumbai will miss key players giving Pune the edge in the 'Maha Derby' tonight

THIS YEAR, THE ISL fixtures are all about making the maximum bang right off the bat. And for that, they have arranged the fixtures in a way that puts some exciting contests on show in the very first round. They started the tournament with NEUFC vs Kerala Blasters, the two biggest TV-rating drivers in the tournament. Next night it was the tried-and-tested battle between Atletico de Kolkata and Chennaiyin FC. And tonight, they will make it all about the local rivalry of FC Pune City and Mumbai City FC.

ISL tris hard to play it up as a 'Derby' contest (this is the only case where two franchises reside within a single state) but frankly the heat around this match has never been up to that level. Mumbai City and Pune City are probably the two least popular franchises in the tournament, and even after two years haven't managed to manufacture a believable rivalry between themselves.

But the efforts to further that same cause will continue tonight. The two teams, both under-achievers on the pitch having never qualified for the playoffs, will try to be third time lucky this year. And given the way their teams and circumstances have lined up, they will have their own sets of challenges to overcome. 

Objectivey, Mumbai City look like the better of the two teams. But that's only on paper; when you compare the two full squads. But presently, with so many of their players including Sunil Chhetri, Sony Norde and Amrinder Singh being out of the squad, they suddenly find themselves at a disadvantage. Not only the attack loses the sting of the Norde-Chhetri combination, the midfield loses a foreing player too due to the team having to use Roberto Volpato at goal. So Alexandre Guimaraes will need to be calculative and put his full force behind the defence and hope the likes of Jackichand and Haokip or Lalrinmuana in midfield/wings combined with Gaston Sangoy and Diego Forlan up front proves to be a potent attack that gets an early goal for them to bite down and defend.

Meanwhile, the attack of FC Pune City has also suffered due to the injury of Eidur Gudjohnsen. Eugeneson Lyngdoh being away at Bengaluru FC is not a good place to be in for the Pune attack either. But the reason they look a bit more stable than Mumbai is the presence of some good defenders like Eduardo, Rahul Bheke, Narayan Das, Dharmaraj and Gouramangi. ANd a midfield consisting Arata, Gustavo Oberman, Pitu and Sanju Pradhan doesn't look bad either. (Mohamed Sissoko is unlikely to play the game, he's just been signed) And they can have reasonable effectiveness by putting Jesus Tato up front. Or Habas can mix it up, have an all-foreigner midfield and use Arata Izumi as a striker. He did it at ATK last year.

In the end, it's Habas who is the trump card here for Pune, despite him having to sit in the stands due to the four match suspension he picked up for his conduct during last year's semi-final second leg. It's because of him it seems like the Stallions are at an advantage. He knows the tournament, he knows the players and he knows the opponents. And he can make it a match worth the local fans' while tonight. 

So far, every time Pune City and Mumbai City have faced each other at the Balewadi Stadium, it's the home team that has walked away with the win. And the Stallions should not have too much trouble sticking to their unbeaten home record in this particular fixture tonight.