Margao, Nov 27, : .SC East Bengal will face arch-rivals ATK Mohun Bagan and the previous edition’s runners up in the Kolkata derby in Indian Super League (ISL).
The latter hopes to win at the Tilak Maidan later in Saturday. ATK Mohun Bagan opened their campaign with a win against Kerala Blasters FC (4-2), but SC East Bengal struggled, and eventually shared points with Jamshedpur FC (1-1).
SC East Bengal has lost all five of their competitive matches.They have also lost three and shared points the other two.They would draw inspiration from their pre-season practice matches, where they won three of the four and drew against Mumbai City, the defending champions.
ATK Mohun Bagan has won three of their five matches and drawn one.This includes matches from the 2021 AFC Cup where they beat ISL rivals Bengaluru FC, Maziya FC, and were beaten by Nasaf FC of Uzbekistan in the inter-zonal semifinal.They will be favourites due to their star-studded lineup.
ATK Mohun Bagan won both matches between these sides last year, with Roy Krishna scoring once each.
ATK Mohun Bagan would have been pleased with the win over Kerala Blasters on day one, but there are still some areas that need to be improved.
After the 0-6 defeat against Nasaf FC in AFC Cup, Antonio Lopez Habas, head coach, decided to go with a more conservative back four.However, the Kolkata team conceded two goals in the final game.
The midfield has been more agile with Lenny Rodrigues and Hugo Boumous working well together with the Finnish playmaker Joni Kaluko to maintain fluidity.They need to play more matches together in order to reach the best level of efficiency in playmaking zone.
Krishna, who scored from the spot in the opening night’s game, was as threatening as ever.It would be interesting to see how much time David Williams gets with the striker starting on the bench in the previous match, due to the new foreigner policy.
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