Hyderabad vs East Bengal: Preview and Prediction

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Hyderabad has a fantastic record against East Bengal

In the second match of matchday 10 of the 2022-23 Indian Super League season, Hyderabad will be up against East Bengal at the GMC Balayogi Athletic Stadium in Hyderabad.

Defending champions Hyderabad has done a fairly decent job in their title defense so far. With six wins from nine matches, the Nizams have accumulated 19 points. They are currently second in the points table, placed just a couple of points behind Mumbai City.

East Bengal, on the other hand, might have been better than last season, but there is still a lot of room for improvement. The Torchbearers have won three of their first eight matches, and with 9 points, are placed eighth in the standings.

Current Form

Hyderabad did not get the start they would have ideally preferred, as in their first match, Mumbai City held them to a 3-3 draw. However, Manuel Marquez Roca’s men then embarked on a streak of five consecutive wins. During this streak, Hyderabad defeated NorthEast United, Bengaluru, Goa, Odisha and Jamshedpur.

At that stage, the Nizams were looking unstoppable and were occupying the top spot. But it was followed by a steep dip in form as they suffered back-to-back defeats – against Kerala Blasters and ATK Mohun Bagan. Having said that, Roca’s men bounced back by beating Chennaiyin 3-1 in their last match.

East Bengal has been on a roller-coaster ride this season. They started their season by losing 1-3 and 1-2 against Kerala Blasters and Goa respectively but then bounced back by beating NorthEast United in their third match.

However, Stephen Constantine’s men could not continue with the momentum and ended up losing their next two matches against ATK Mohun Bagan and Chennaiyin. In their last three matches, the Torchbearers have won two matches – against Bengaluru and Jamshedpur and lost the other match against Odisha.

Head to Head Record

Head-to-head records are inclined in favour of Hyderabad. The Nizams have won two of the previous four meetings against East Bengal, while the other two matches did not produce a winner.

The last meeting, which was held back in January, resulted in a 4-0 drubbing for the Kolkata-based team. Nigerian goal machine Bartholomew Ogbeche scored a hat-trick for Hyderabad, while the other goal was scored by a player currently playing for East Bengal, Aniket Jadhav.

Team News

While Hyderabad did beat Chennaiyin in their last match, they had to wait a long time for the goals and Roca’s substitutions did the trick for the defending champions. Hence, those who made an impact from the bench could be handed a start in this match.

One of them is Borja Herrera, who netted an absolute stunner. He could replace Joel Chianese, while in midfield, Hitesh Sharma did not have the best of games against the Marina Machans. He could be replaced by Sahil Tavora.

On a similar note, Constantine will also be faced with some selection dilemmas ahead of this match. Given that the performance was satisfactory against Jamshedpur, the English tactician could roll an unchanged starting XI.

However, after recovering from an injury, Charalampos Kyriakou will be available for selection once again. Though he did not do much wrong against the Red Miners, Alex Lima might have to make way for his fellow midfielder.

Predicted XIs

Hyderabad (4-2-3-1): Gurmeet Singh; Nikhil Poojary, Odei Onaindia, Chinglensana Singh, Akash Mishra; Joao Victor, Sahil Tavora; Mohammad Yasir, Borja Herrera, Halicharan Narzary; Bartholomew Ogbeche.

East Bengal (4-4-2): Kamaljit Singh; Sarthak Golui, Lalchungnunga, Ivan Gonzalez, Jerry Lalrinzuala; Charalampos Kyriakou, Jordan O’Doherty; VP Suhair, Naorem Mahesh Singh; Thongkhosiem Haokip, Cleiton Silva.

Prediction

Hyderabad is ahead of East Bengal both on head-to-head records and current form, while they also boast of a more balanced squad. Hence, we have predicted the Nizams to win this encounter.

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