ATK Mohun Bagan vs Bengaluru: Preview and Prediction
The fourth match of matchday 9 of the 2022-23 Indian Super League season will see ATK Mohun Bagan locking horns with Bengaluru. The match will be played at Kolkata’s Salt Lake Stadium on Thursday.
ATK Mohun Bagan has not been as convincing as they would have hoped, but they still will be fairly content with their performance so far. Having won four of their first seven matches and secured 13 points, the Mariners are occupying fourth place in the standings.
Bengaluru, on the contrary, will be very disappointed with how their league campaign panned out after winning the Durand Cup. With only two wins and 7 points in their account, the Blues are struggling in ninth place.
Current Form
ATK Mohun Bagan had a poor start to their campaign as they were handed a 1-2 defeat by Chennaiyin in their opening encounter. However, that defeat was followed by a run of four unbeaten games, where Juan Ferrando’s boys defeated Kerala Blasters, East Bengal and NorthEast United and drew against Mumbai City.
But the unbeaten streak came to an end in a rather unceremonious fashion, as they suffered a humbling 0-3 defeat against Goa. That being said, the Mariners bounced back by beating defending champions Hyderabad 1-0 in their last match.
Bengaluru had the exact opposite start as they were unbeaten in their first two matches – beating NorthEast United 1-0 and drawing 1-1 against Chennaiyin. But what followed was disastrous, as Simon Grayson’s men lost their next four fixtures.
The margin of defeat was 1-0 against Hyderabad, Odisha and East Bengal, while against Mumbai City, the Blues suffered a 0-4 humiliation. However, in their last match, Grayson’s men bounced back by beating Goa 2-0.
Head to Head Record
The head-to-head records are skewed in favour of ATK Mohun Bagan. The Mariners have won three of the four previous ISL meetings between these two sides, while the other encounter did not produce a winner.
The last meeting, which was back in February, resulted in a 2-0 victory for the Mariners. Liston Colaco scored the opening goal in the first half before Manvir Singh doubled his team’s lead in the second half.
Team News
Given that his team won the last fixture, it is unlikely that Ferrando will alter his starting XI. A backline of Asish Rai, Pritam Kotal, Brendan Hamill and Subhasish Bose is expected to be stationed ahead of Vishal Kaith in goal.
In Joni Kauko’s absence, Carl McHugh is likely to retain his place in the midfield trio alongside Deepak Tangri and Hugo Boumous, with Manvir, Liston and Australian striker Dimitri Petratos comprising to form the front three.
While his team also won their last fixture, it will not be surprising if Grayson prefers not to walk Ferrando’s path and tweak his starting XI, as work still needs to be done in the Bengaluru team. Especially, the midfield did not look particularly bright against Goa.
Both Suresh Singh Wangjam and Danish Farooq struggled to keep up with the pace of the game. To avoid a repetition of the same and provide Javi Hernandez with more support, the duo could be replaced by Bruno Ramires and Rohit Kumar respectively.
Predicted XIs
ATK Mohun Bagan (4-3-3): Vishal Kaith; Asish Rai, Pritam Kotal, Brendan Hamill, Subhasish Bose; Deepak Tangri, Carl McHugh, Hugo Boumous; Manvir Singh, Dimitri Petratos, Liston Colaco.
Bengaluru (4-3-3): Gurpreet Singh Sandhu; Prabir Das, Aleksander Jovanovic, Sandesh Jhingan, Namgyal Bhutia; Rohit Kumar, Javi Hernandez, Bruno Ramires; Udanta Singh, Roy Krishna, Roshan Naorem.
Prediction
ATK Mohun Bagan is not only ahead on current form, but they also have an exceptional head-to-head record against Bengaluru. Coupling the two factors, we have predicted the Mariners to win this match.