One of the statistical anomalies of the Indian Super League (ISL) this year has been the unusually high number of away wins registered in the first 27 matches of the season. There have been 11 away wins as opposed to just six for home teams.
To put things in perspective, in the first year in 2014, the 56 league stage matches produced just 12 away wins, while the corresponding number in 2015 was just 17. There was a further 'away' win only in the 2015 final, but that was because FC Goa were playing Chennayin FC at the former's home ground, the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Goa.
It began with the third match of the season, as Mumbai City FC rode on a Matias Defederico winner to beat FC Pune City in Pune to register what was only their second away win in ISL history. It has continued till the 27th match, as Delhi Dynamos put in a strong second-half performance to consign FC Goa to their third home defeat this season, the most suffered by any side for the year.
Abhishek Yadav, who turned out for Mumbai in the inaugural season, believes it is the fact that the ISL is a relatively new league and the fans are less partisan which makes it easier for teams playing away from home.
"People come to watch quality football. Even when you go to play an away match, it is not like the crowd is negative and tries to make you uncomfortable as a visiting player," says Yadav, who now heads the All India Football Federation's scouting programme, "As a footballer, as long as the crowd doesn't cross the barrier and get on to the field, you don't worry about them too much."
This season's away wins have had a very even distribution, with all eight teams winning at least one game away. Delhi, Mumbai and Atletico de Kolkata are the only teams to have won two matches away from home, but coach of I-League team Mumbai FC, Santosh Kashyap, who also worked as assistant coach for NorthEast United in 2015, refuses to read too much into the statistics.
"Everybody knows the difference between home and away conditions now. It has become a very close league. Strategies have to be fluid. The results may not be showing it, but the domination by home teams is definitely there," says Kashyap, who cites the match between Atletico de Kolkata and Mumbai City in Kolkata as a match where the home side dominated, but the visitors came away with a win simply because they defended better.
Seven out of eight venues have witnessed away wins, with Delhi the only team to not have lost at home as yet. FC Goa are yet to register a point at home, having lost all three home games, and even the intimidating atmosphere in Kochi couldn't prevent Atletico de Kolkata from snatching a 1-0 win on their visit there this year.
"It is actually easier to play better when there's a big crowd, whether at home or away," says Yadav, while joking that playing in Delhi was his most memorable away outing as a Mumbai City player, even though his team lost 4-1, as that was the only ISL goal he scored in his only season. "In all seriousness, I really enjoyed playing in Kerala the most, because of the buzz."