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Tampines skipper Mustafic calm ahead of final day S.League drama

Tampines Rovers Fahrudin Mustafic is not getting overly stressed as the Great Eastern-Yeo's S.League title race is about to reach its climax on Saturday.

The Stags are currently trailing leaders Brunei DPMM FC by two points but a win over Harimau Muda, and a Balestier victory in Brunei, will be enough to hand them the coveted crown.

Should Tampines emerge victorious at the Jurong West Stadium and DPMM draw with the Tigers, the title will then be decided by goal difference.

Although V. Sundramoorthy's charges have had their fair share of critics this season, they deserve credit for the fact that they are still in with a chance of being crowned champions with one game left to go.

And given victory may still not necessarily guarantee his side the title, a calm Mustafic insists they will instead concentrate on the one thing they can control on Saturday.

"We're definitely hungry to win the title," he told ESPN FC. "After a tough season, suddenly we have come to a situation where we have chance to be champions.

"But first, we need to do the job -- we have to concentrate on ourselves and then hope Balestier can do us a favour.

"A couple of weeks back nobody thought we would be in this but we've got this far and credit has to go to everyone.

"We worked hard and we always believed we are a good team, now is up to us to prove it in the last game."

On paper, the pressure seems to be on DPMM, given a Tampines victory over Harimau Muda appears to be a mere formality.

Nonetheless, Mustafic is adamant that his side cannot afford to allow any complacency to creep in.

The ex-Singapore international added: "Playing Harimau won't be an easy game, even though we've beaten them twice this year.

"They have fast players and, on their day, can give anyone a problem so we have to do our part and get the win we need to have a chance."

The first meeting between the two sides came in August when a Rodrigo Tosi strike was enough to hand the Stags a 1-0 win at the Hang Jebat Stadium.

The following month, they faced off again at the Jalan Besar Stadium and this time, Tampines cruised to victory in much more convincing fashion, as a Tosi hat-trick and a Mateo Roskam double helped them to a 5-1 victory.

Harimau Muda will have little to play for apart from pride given they have no chance of finishing any higher or lower than seventh.

Tampines Rovers Probable Lineup: Rodrigo Pacheco, Fabian Kwok, Predrag Pocuca, Jufri Taha, Ismadi Mukhtar, Aqhari Abdullah, Isa Halim, Fahrudin Mustafic, Shaiful Esah, Mateo Roskam, Rodrigo Tosi

Harimau Muda Probable Lineup: Ilham Amirullah, Kenny Pallraj, Annas Rahmat, Syawal Nordin, Azrul Nizam Muhammad, Irfan Zakaria, Amirul Hisyam, Akhir Bahari, Syafwan Syahlan, Faizat Ghazli, S. Kumaahran