ATK Mohun Bagan vs Odisha: Preview and Prediction
The fourth fixture of matchday 17 of the 2022-23 Indian Super League season will see ATK Mohun Bagan taking on Odisha at Kolkata’s Salt Lake Stadium on Saturday.
While ATK Mohun Bagan still remains among the top contenders to qualify for the next round, they will not be very happy with their performance, given the gap with the top two. With seven wins in 14 matches and 24 points, the Mariners are placed fourth in the stands.
On the other hand, Odisha might be below the Mariners in the standings but they will be fairly satisfied with how their season has panned out so far, given that they had a campaign to forget last time out. With seven wins in 14 matches and 22 points in their account, the Kalinga Warriors are placed sixth in the points table and would be hoping to make it to the playoffs.
Current Form
ATK Mohun Bagan started their season with a 1-2 defeat against Chennaiyin, but they then had a good run where they remained unbeaten for four matches – winning three of those fixtures against Kerala Blasters, East Bengal and NorthEast United.
After losing out to Goa in their sixth fixture, Juan Ferrando’s boys bounced back with consecutive wins against Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Jamshedpur. However, things have completely gone downhill for them ever since, as they have won only one of their last five matches. Two of these games ended in draws, while the Mariners also suffered defeats against NorthEast United and Mumbai City.
Odisha had a good start to their season as they won three of their first four matches – against Jamshedpur, Kerala Blasters and Bengaluru. After losing out to Hyderabad, Josep Gambau’s side once again had a good run, where they won consecutive games against East Bengal, Chennaiyin and NorthEast United.
However, then came a steep decline in form as the Kalinga Warriors lost three of their next four matches – against Goa, Kerala Blasters and Mumbai City, while the match against ATK Mohun Bagan ended in a draw. After breaking their duck by beating East Bengal, Odisha once again was derailed as Bengaluru handed them a 1-3 defeat in the last match.
Head to Head Record
The head-to-head records are completely inclined in favour of ATK Mohun Bagan. They won two of the five previous league meetings against Odisha, while the other three matches ended in draws – meaning the Kalinga Warriors have never beaten the Mariners.
The last meeting between these two teams, which took place only a month ago in Bhubaneshwar’s Kalinga Stadium, resulted in a goalless draw as both teams wasted plenty of chances.
Team News
After a disappointing 0-0 draw against Chennaiyin, Ferrando is expected to make a few changes to his team. New signing Puitea has been unimpressive in his first two matches for the green and maroon, and he is expected to make way for another new signing who previously used to be a crucial part of the team – Glan Martins.
Besides that, another new signing in Federico Gallego is also expected to be handed a start in this match, with Carl McHugh making way. Besides that, Ashique Kuruniyan will be available for selection again after serving his one-game suspension and he could replace Manvir Singh.
Similarly, Gambau is also expected to make changes to his starting XI after a poor display against Bengaluru. Left-back Denechandran Meitei had a difficult time keeping up with the pace and trickery of Prabir Das, and he could make way for Sahil Panwar.
Besides that, Raynier Fernandes also had an unimpressive outing in the middle of the park, which could lead to his dropping and the selection of Isaac Vanmalsawma. Besides that, the Spanish tactician could select Victor Rodriguez for the team, but the midfielder is currently nursing an injury and an update on his availability is not known yet.
Predicted XIs
ATK Mohun Bagan (4-2-3-1): Vishal Kaith; Asish Rai, Pritam Kotal, Brendan Hamill, Subhasish Bose; Glan Martins, Federico Gallego; Liston Colaco, Hugo Boumous, Ashique Kuruniyan; Dimitri Petratos.
Odisha (4-3-3): Amrinder Singh; Narender Gahlot, Carlos Delgado, Osama Malik, Sahil Panwar; Isaac Vanmalsawma, Saul Crespo, Thoiba Singh; Jerry Mawihmingthanga, Diego Mauricio, Nandhakumar Sekar.
Prediction
While both teams have been below average in the last few weeks, ATK Mohun Bagan enjoys the upper hand on two aspects: strength on paper and head-to-head statistics. Hence, we have predicted them to take all three points from this match.