Depleted Chirag United up against buoyant Pune FC

Kolkata: Desperate for a win, a depleted Chirag United will face buoyant Pune FC in their return leg round 18 fixture of the I-League at Yuba Bharati Krirangan

here on Tuesday. Chirag`s star recruit Sunil Chhetri, goalkeeper Abhijit Mondal, defenders Arnab Mondal and Subhasish Roy Choudhury have been ruled out with injuries, which means technical director Subrata Bhattacharya will have to use his limited resources on the home condition. On papers, seventh-placed Chirag United may be a point ahead of the Pune outfit in the I-League table, but the form factor is heavily tilted in the favour of the visitors who are unbeaten in their last five matches. Chirag United, on the other hand, have remained winless in last four games and were also dealt with a bodyblow when they were thrashed 1-4 by Salgaocar in their last match at home that saw the India star striker play as a substitute in his maiden appearance for the team. Beside looking to exploit the home advantage, Chirag will bank on their foreigner duo of Joshimar Martins and Junior Elijah to lead the team to a safety zone. "We require three points to move into the safety zone...but at the same time, we should not under-estimate our opponents as they boast of some fine players in Subrata Pal and Izumi Arata among others," Bhattacharya said. Pune FC, who are high on confidence after their 2-1 comeback win over Air India in the previous round, now Derrick Pereira`s boys will look to earn full points to go ahead of Chirag United in the standings. "We go into the game with a positive mood...We hope to maintain the same spirit like we did against Air India when we fought back despite being goal down," said Pereira. PTI