Kalyani, Mar 20 (PTI) Defending champions Gokulam Kerala would look to continue their unbeaten run when they take on TRAU FC in an I-League game at the Kalyani stadium here on Monday.

Gokulam have rested for more than a week after their 6-2 thrashing of Kenkre FC on March 12 and now they face an inconsistent Manipur side.

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"It's good to have extra time but also bad for motivating players in training. We were accustomed to the 5-day game rhythm and that was broken but we will try to take this break positively and come back with fresh energy," said Gokulam head coach Vincenzo Annese.

"Every game is important. We have the ability to dominate each game with our style of play and that is what I expect from my players. We need to frustrate the opposition by keeping possession and find the right spaces to attack them," he said.

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TRAU are fresh from a resounding 3-0 victory over Kenkre FC which propelled them into the top five and head coach L Nandakumar Singh was impressed with his charges.

"There was barely anything for me to be critical of from the win against Kenkre so that shows how well the boys played. But we know we are up against a very talented team next and we are going to try and get the three points.”

TRAU's problem has been their inconsistency as they have won two and lost as many matches with one game drawn so far.

In the day's second match, it's the table-toppers versus bottom-placed side as early title challengers Mohammedan SC take on newly-promoted Kenkre FC at the Naihati Stadium.

Mohammedan suffered their first loss of the season on Wednesday, losing 1-2 against Churchill Brothers. However, coach Andrey Chernyshov isn't dwelling on that result.

"In football, you can't win every game. You have to be ready for everything. We've analysed that game and are ready for the next one. My players are mentally very strong."

Despite Kenkre's tough start to life at this level, coach Akhil Kothari remains optimistic.

"I think we have been progressing game by game since day one. We're looking for a much-improved performance against Mohammedan. We want to control the game, create chances and score goals," he said.

"We just want to focus on the process. We have a plan in place for the entire tournament."

After securing a hat-trick of clean sheets, Rajasthan United FC will look to go one step further when they take on a confident Churchill Brothers at Naihati.

Rajasthan United are yet to concede a goal since the restart of the season, having earned one victory and two draws.

Assistant coach Pushpender Kundu wants the side to score more goals and focus match by match.

"We have three clean sheets. We want to improve on scoring goals. In the last few matches, we have created a few more chances but we want to convert those in the coming matches," he said.

On the other hand, Churchill Brothers are coming into the match with a morale-boosting first victory of the season over high-flying Mohammedan Sporting.

Churchill assistant head coach Mateus Costa is confident of his side getting the results.

"Hopefully, we can build on the win over Mohammedan and get more results in our favour," he said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)