Goa: Bengaluru FC lock horns with SC East Bengal in match 52 of the Indian Super League at the Fatorda stadium in Goa on Saturday(January). It hasn’t been smooth season for the Bengaluru side, two straight defeats in their last two matches lead to the sacking of their coach Carles Cuadrat with Naushad Moosa taking charge as an interim head coach who feels that his side is focused despite the current scenario.
“It is not an easy situation for anyone at the club, but we are professionals at the end of the day. The players understand the situation and know that we have an important game tomorrow. They want to bounce back and win games again.” added Mousa in the pre-match conference.
A major concern for the Blues is the lack of finishing by the forward line, relying heavily on their talisman Sunil Chhetri which costed them a lot. The likes of Kristian Opseth and Deshorn Brown need to take more responsibility.
While defensively they have not been at their best as well conceding goals at crucial moments. They have to be careful as East Bengal’s recent form have been excellent and will throw challenge looking sharp.
SC East Bengal however will come into this encounter after an exciting game against FC Goa which they drew 1-1, while they put questions on the quality refereeing in the tournament. However, a good news for Robbie Fowler’s side is that the suspension on Danny Fox in the match has been cancelled out and he will feature in starting XI.
Bright Enobakhare has been sensational in the two matches he has played with his astonishing solo effort in the last being the highlight of this season’s ISL.
Ankit Mukherjee and Raju Gaikwad’s inclusion to the squad have proved to be quite fruitful with both of them showing good promise while Jacques Maghoma will be the man to watch out for as the midfielder has been in excellent form.
Bengaluru FC possible playing XI: Gurpreet Singh Sandhu(GK), Juanan, Harmanjot Khabra, Cleiton Silva, Deshorn Brown, Erik Paartalu, Sunil Chhetri, Ashique Kuruniyan, Fran González, Suresh-Singh Wangjam, Kristian Opseth
SC East Bengal possible playing XI: Debjit Majumder(GK),Daniel Fox, Scott Neville, Sehnaj Singh, Surchandra Singh, Mohammed Rafique, Raju Gaikwad, Matti Steinmann, Ankit Mukherjee, Jacques Maghoma, Anthony Pilkington.
