Now that ATK got the early season monkey off their back by beating Delhi Dynamos last night, the pressure is really on John Gregory’s Chennaiyin FC to pull a result out of the bag when they host NorthEast United tonight at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.

The reigning ISL Champions have been a shell of their former selves since Season 5 has begun, beaten on the opening day by Bengaluru, before being outfought, out-thought, and outplayed by FC Goa ahead of the international break.

The Tamil Nadu outfit are now the only side left this season not to have picked up any points, and Marina Machans supporters will be hoping that former Aston Villa manager Gregory will have used the time afforded over the break wisely, as they prepare to take on a NorthEast United side still the underdogs, despite Chennai’s poor start.

And he would have been kept busy in the 12 days between that harrowing defeat to FC Goa and today, particularly some awful lapses in concentration that cost Chennai two soft goals in that 3-1 defeat, and some uncharacteristically slack defending from the Season 4 champions.

For three of Gregory’s players in Jeje Lalpekhlua, Anirudh Thapa, and Karanjit Singh, at least their was some respite from the early-season disappointment on the South-East coast, and the Chennai boss will hope that trio will use their experience of India’s positive result against China to inject some momentum into the side.

Momentum is also something which NorthEast United could do with, after a strange start to the season schedule-wise.

Eelco Schattorie’s men played two games in four days to start this season’s ISL campaign, earning a respectable draw against FC Goa on Monday October 1st, before flying across the country and brilliantly turning over ATK on the Thursday, showing their ability to dig deep by scoring the winner in the 89th minute.

However, it’s now been over a fortnight since that whirlwind beginning, and Schattorie will hope that his side won’t suffer from the staggered early-season fixture list, and continue their impressive start to the season.

To that end, a trip to Madras certainly isn’t the worst prospect, if history is anything to go by. The Highlanders have won more games and scored more goals against Chennaiyin than any other team in the league, and with international midfielder Rowllin Borges in flying form, the visitors will fancy themselves to get something to take back up the Eastern coast this evening.

Do that, and the pressure will really begin to mount on Gregory.