Mohun Bagan Super Giants will host Kerala Blasters at the Yuva Bharati Krirangan Stadium in Kolkata on Wednesday in a top of the table ISL clash. While the home side are placed third on the table with 19 points from 9 matches, the away side occupy the second spot with 23 points from 11 games.
Mohun Bagan Super Giants have a lot of big names in their squad but the foreign players have underperformed by their standards. Armando Sadiku has scored only 3 goals from nine games with Jason Cummings bagging only 4 goals from eight matches. Sahal Abdul Samad will be gearing up to play against his former side and would look to surpass Chennaiyin’s Rafael Crivellaro (5) as the one with the most number of assists. The Indian international already has 4 assists to his name from just six matches.
Mohun Bagan’s defense is a cause for concern as they have conceded 13 goals from 9 games – the most by any team in the top five. They have kept only two clean sheets in the ISL so far, with the last one coming up against bottom-placed Hyderabad at the start of this month.
Kerala Blasters, on the other hand, won’t have any concerns about their goalscoring department. Dimitrios Diamantakos is the leading goalscorer in the tournament with 6 goals to his name from nine matches. Danish Farooq and Kwame Peprah have two goals each to themselves.
Kerala Blasters conceded only 10 goals so far from 11 games and have kept four clean sheets in the tournament. Their goalkeeper Sachin Suresh is known for coming out of his line and collecting the balls and their midfielders stay compact to ensure they don’t let the opposition penetrate deep and create chances.
Current Form
Kerala Blasters enter the match on the back of two consecutive victories. On their home ground, they beat Mumbai City 2-0 with Dimitrios Diamantakos and Kwame Peprah scoring the two goals in the first half itself. This was the second match they played this season without Adrian Luna and questions were raised whether they would be able to create chances without the diminutive attacking midfielder. However, all that was put to rest with special focus being put on the wingers Mohammed Aimen and Rahul KP.
Against Punjab, Kerala Blasters came out on top with a 1-0 margin. Diamantakos scored the winning goal from a penalty. Prior to that, they suffered a 0-1 loss from the hands of league leaders Goa away from home as Rowllin Borges scored the only goal at the stroke of half-time. Chennaiyin and Kerala Blasters played an entertaining 3-3 draw with Diamantakos scoring a brace and Peprah scoring the other goal for Vukomanovic’s side.
After failing to qualify for the knockout stages of the AFC Cup, Mohun Bagan Super Giants bounced back with a 3-1 win over 10 men NorthEast United. Deepak Tangri, Jason Cummings, and Subhasish Bose scored for the Mariners in Guwahati.
However, they suffered consecutive losses as their unbeaten streak in the ISL came to an end. Cummings gave MBSG the lead but Mumbai City completed their comeback and won the contest with a 2-1 margin. The game was infamous for the seven red cards dished out by the referee with Asish Rai, Liston Colaco, and Hector Yuste also being given the marching orders.
Mohun Bagan’s performance against Goa in Kolkata in their previous match raised a lot of eyebrows on Juan Ferrando’s performance as they were outclassed 4-1. Petratos scored a wonderful free-kick goal in that match but it was not enough to help his side mount a comeback.
Head to Head Record
This will be the seventh encounter between Mohun Bagan Super Giants and Kerala Blasters with the latter failing to get a single win over the former in the previous six encounters. The Mariners have gained the upper hand on five occasions with only one fixture ending in a draw.
Carl McHugh scored a brace for Mohun Bagan after Diamantakos gave Kerala Blasters the lead in their last fixture. The match ended 2-1 in favor of the Mariners.
Team News
Liston Colaco is still serving his suspension
Following his red card against Mumbai City, the AIFF Disciplinary Committee handed Liston Colaco a four-match suspension. He has served only one game out of the four so far and will not be available for the fixture against Kerala Blasters.
Asish Rai and Hector Yuste are likely to return to the starting line-up and are likely to replace Brandon Hamill and Sumit Rathi respectively in the back four. Anwar Ali and Ashique Kuruniyan are still nursing injuries for Mohun Bagan Super Giants and remain unavailable on Wednesday.
Kerala Blasters have plenty of injury concerns for themselves with Aibanbha Dohling, Jeakson Singh, Freddy Lallawmawma, and Adrian Luna out till January. The Blasters are likely to name an unchanged line-up against Mohun Bagan Super Giant.
Predicted Starting XIs
Mohun Bagan Super Giant (3-5-2): Vishal Kaith; Hector Yuste, Deepak Tangri, Subhasish Bose; Manvir Singh, Glan Martins, Anirudh Thapa, Hugo Boumous, Kiyan Nassiri; Jason Cummings, Dimitrios Petratos
Kerala Blasters (4-4-2): Sachin Suresh; Pritam Kotal, Milos Drincic, Marko Leskovic, Naocha Singh; Rahul KP, Danish Farooq, Vibin Mohanan, Mohammad Aimen; Dimitrios Diamantakos, Kwame Peprah
Prediction
MBSG has a superior head-to-head record and it looks tough that Kerala Blasters would get their first win over them. Sahal knows Vukomanovic’s side like the back of his hand and his experience against his former side would be crucial.
The Blasters, on the other hand, would be poised to make the most of Bagan’s weak defense and score a goal or two. It looks tough that Ferrando’s men will be able to contain the duo of Diamantakos and Peprah. This looks to be a close contest with a win for either side looking tough.