East Bengal have already recorded two wins in as many matches in ISL-12. Mohun Bagan Super Giant will look to do the same when they face Chennaiyin FC at the Salt Lake Stadium on Monday.

In the build-up to the much-delayed and truncated league, it was being said that the 2025-26 edition would be a two-horse race between Indian football's eternal rivals.

That's because most of the other 12 teams in the fray have not built a competitive team, unlike in past seasons, and have not prepared enough.

These are the early days, but East Bengal on Saturday already showed promise that this time they are good enough to go the distance. Bagan, last season's ISL Shield and Cup winners, have always been in the mix and this edition will be no different.

When most of the teams — barring their arch-rivals East Bengal — were looking for avenues to curtail cost and suspended first-team practice, Bagan were going full throttle with training sessions.

Their opponents in the inaugural match — Kerala Blasters — came for the February 14 clash with barely two weeks of preparations. Monday's opponents, Chennaiyin FC, also hardly got time to prepare for the league.

Bagan coach Sergio Lobera though did not agree that extensive pre-season put his players in a winning position in every match. "We had two months of pre-season but finished the (Blasters) game with 10 players. That's because (Brazilian) Robson (Robinho) had cramps and we were already done with the mandatory five substitutions," he said at the pre-match news conference at the Salt Lake Stadium.

"Competitive games are not the same as playing some friendly games," he added.

Lobera said even though some teams started their preparations late, the matches so far have shown how competitive it is. "You can see how the teams are fighting in all of the games," the Spaniard said.

"Chennaiyin have very good players, very experienced players in terms of foreign recruits. They played very well against Mumbai City. Before the league started, teams were saying, 'oh we are not ready... cannot sign good foreign players.' But once the league started, nobody was ready to yield an inch on the field. So it will not be easy against Chennaiyin," Lobera said.

Bagan survived some anxious moments against Blasters, and once goalkeeper Vishal Kaith had to rush out just in time to avert danger. Clifford Miranda's men will hope to do one step better and put it past last season's Golden Glove winner.