Matchday 9 of the 2023-24 Indian Super League season will kickstart with a match between Mohun Bagan Super Giant and Odisha. The match will be played at the Vivekananda Yuva Bharati Krirangan in Kolkata, on Wednesday.
This clash will be one to savour, as the two teams are among the few favorites to win the title. Among them, Mohun Bagan Super Giant’s chances are the highest, as they have been absolutely unstoppable so far. The Mariners have won all of the five matches they have played in this competition so far and are placed third in the standings with 15 points.
On the other hand, Odisha has done a fairly decent job in the competition so far. The Kalinga Warriors have won four and drawn one of their first seven games, losing the other two. With 13 points, they are placed fourth in the standings.
Current Form
Mohun Bagan Super Giant had a comfortable start as they were up against the newly-promoted Punjab in their first game, where they got a 3-1 win. The challenge was much tougher in the second match against Bengaluru, but they still managed to somehow get a 1-0 win.
The third match was again a cakewalk, where Juan Ferrando’s men got a 3-1 win against Chennaiyin. There was one rare lapse of concentration in the fourth match against Jamshedpur, but thanks to numerical supremacy with the opposition’s goalkeeper being sent off, the Mariners got a 3-2 win. They are coming into this match after beating Hyderabad 2-0.
Odisha too had a good start to their campaign, as they defeated Chennaiyin by a 2-0 margin in their first match, but Sergio Lobera’s men could not sustain the momentum. They were restricted to a 2-2 draw by Mumbai City in their second match, before going down against Goa by a 2-3 margin.
The phase of difficulty continued even further as the Kalinga Warriors lost 1-2 against Kerala Blasters in their next match, but since then, they have played a stylish brand of football. The side bounced back with a 3-2 win over Bengaluru, before beating NorthEast United and Jamshedpur, both by 1-0 margin.
Head to Head Record
There is no competition between the two teams when it comes to head-to-head records, as Mohun Bagan Super Giant is miles ahead in this aspect. They have won four of the seven ISL meetings against Odisha, while the other three matches ended in draws.
In the last meeting between the two sides in March at the 2022-23 ISL playoffs, the Mariners secured a 2-0 win with Hugo Boumous and Dimitrios Petratos scoring the two goals for Ferrando’s side.
Team News
Though Mohun Bagan Super Giant won their last match against Hyderabad, they left it late and Ferrando will know there are still weaknesses in the team after two consecutive defeats in the AFC Cup. More than the defense, the Spanish tactician might be concerned about goal-scoring.
Big-money signing Jason Cummings was mostly quiet against the Nizams, and with Petratos still nursing an injury, the Australian striker might be replaced by Armando Sadiku. Moreover, youngster Kiyan Nassiri was also not very impressive. Ferrando does not have many options in this regard but it has been reported that Manvir Singh is recovering well after getting injured in the international break. Should Manvir be available, he is expected to take Kiyan’s place.
Odisha recently defeated Mohun Bagan Super Giant 5-2 in the AFC Cup, but Lobera will not be able to field the same team again, because of the limit on foreign players in starting XI. While he picked only Roy Krishna in the last ISL game against Jamshedpur, the Spanish coach could choose both Krishna and Diego Mauricio against the Mariners, considering how brilliantly the two combined in that AFC Cup win.
Both Roy Krishna and Diego Mauricio could feature in the starting XI of Odisha
But in that case, Cy Goddard might have to vacate his position. Besides that, Jerry Mawihmingthanga barely had any influence against Jamshedpur and Aniket Jadhav looked much livelier while coming on. Since Jadhav was also among the scorers in Odisha’s 5-2 win against the Mariners, he could be handed a start on Wednesday.
Predicted Starting XIs
Mohun Bagan Super Giant (3-5-2): Vishal Kaith; Brendan Hamill, Hector Yuste, Subhasish Bose; Asish Rai, Sahal Abdul Samad, Anirudh Thapa, Hugo Boumous, Liston Colaco; Armando Sadiku, Manvir Singh.
Odisha (4-2-3-1): Amrinder Singh; Amey Ranawade, Narender Gahlot, Carlos Delgado, Jerry Lalrinzuala; Ahmed Jahouh, Puitea; Aniket Jadhav, Roy Krishna, Isak Vanlalruatfela; Diego Mauricio.
Prediction
Mohun Bagan Super Giant might have struggled in the AFC Cup, but they have been a different beast altogether in this competition. With the crowd also expected to support them in huge numbers in Kolkata, the Mariners will start this match as the favorites to bag all three points.