610
Robin Singh's goal for East Bengal against Bengaluru FC was his first in the I-League in 610 days, with his last goal coming for Bengaluru away to Dempo in a 1-1 draw in May 2015. An injury sustained in December 2015 ruled him out of action from the following year's I-League, and this was actually only his third match since his return to I-League action.
4
Chennai City and Minerva Punjab both got their first goal in I-League history in their fourth matches over the weekend. While Marcos Tank scored for Chennai against Mohun Bagan, it was Loveday who got Minerva a goal against Shillong Lajong. Both teams lost their games by an identical margin of 2-1, though. The record for most games in a debut season without a goal now lies with DSK Shivajians, who only scored in their fifth I-League game in 2015-16.
8
CK Vineeth became the eighth Indian to score a hat-trick since the inception of the I-League in 2007-08. In pure numbers, it was the ninth hat-trick by an Indian player, as Jeje Lalpekhlua has two of them while playing for the Arrows. The other six Indians to score hat-tricks are Baljit Singh Sahni for JCT, Viva Kerala's Anil Kumar, CS Sabeeth (Arrows), Bineesh Balan (Churchill Brothers), Thongkhosiem Haokip for Pune FC and Royal Wahingdoh's Seityasen Singh.
11
Sunil Chhetri has failed to score in 11 games since scoring a brace in the AFC Cup semifinal second leg in Bengaluru in October 2016. These matches include six games played for ISL semi-finalists Mumbai City FC, and while a player of his quality is worth a lot more than the weight of goals he scores, Bengaluru will be hoping that the man who top-scored for them in their inaugural title-winning season in 2013-14 will find his scoring boots soon.
5
CK Vineeth, with five goals, is the leading scorer for the 2017 I-League after the first four rounds, and also the only player to score a hat-trick thus far. It has been 19 years since an Indian was the standalone top scorer at the end of the national league season, when Raman Vijayan's 10 goals for FC Kochi in 1997-98 saw him emulate Bhaichung Bhutia's 14 goals for JCT the previous season. Chhetri also scored the most goals in 2013-14, but he was one of three players who scored 14 goals.
36
Mohun Bagan have scored 36 goals across 13 matches in an unbeaten streak across all national-level competitions since their last defeat, which came at the hands of arch-rivals East Bengal in April 2016 during the last I-League. Since then, Mohun Bagan have won nine and drawn four of their matches encompassing two I-Leagues and a Federation Cup that they won in 2016. In these 13 matches, the goal they conceded against Chennai City was just their eighth.
9
Aizawl FC's 1-0 win over Mumbai FC on January 22 makes it a nine-match unbeaten streak for Aizawl coach Khalid Jamil against his opposite number Santosh Kashyap. Kashyap has faced off with four different teams against Jamil, who was the Mumbai FC coach since 2009-10, and never beaten him in the previous seasons. Kashyap lost one and drew one match with Salgaocar in 2015-16, Royal Wahingdoh in 2014-15 and ONGC in 2012-13. The only team with which he didn't lose to Jamil's Mumbai FC across two legs was Rangdajied United, who drew both encounters 1-1 in the 2013-14 season.
With inputs by Gautam Roy, football historian and media manager of East Bengal football club.