Mumbai City vs Bengaluru: Preview and Prediction

The first game of matchday seven of the 2022-23 Indian Super League season will see Mumbai City host Bengaluru at the Mumbai Football Arena on Thursday.

Carrying their good form from the Durand Cup 2022 where they ended runners-up, Mumbai City has had a good run this tournament and are of the only two teams unbeaten so far in the tournament after the opening six matchdays.

Meanwhile, their opponents, Bengaluru won the Durand Cup 2022, but haven’t had a great start to the ISL with just one win and one draw from five games.

Current Form

Mumbai City has been winning and drawing in alternate. The team began their campaign with an enthralling 3-3 draw over Hyderabad before taking all three points against Odisha. They then drew Jamshedpur 1-1 before taking another three points against Kerala.

The team then faced ATK Mohun Bagan in what was said to be one of the top matches to look forward to this season and ended up picking a point following a 1-1 draw before they dismantled Chennaiyin 6-2 from being down by 2 goals.

Bengaluru meanwhile edged past NorthEast United 1-0 in the opener to pick up all three points before playing out a 1-1 draw over Chennai. The team since has been on a three-match losing streak.

Head to Head Record

In ten meetings between the two sides, there is an even balance with Mumbai City winning five to Bengaluru’s four with one game between the two sides ending in a draw.

The last time the two sides met it was Bengaluru that got the better of their opponents 3-0 courtesy of a goal from Danish Farooq Bhat and a brace from Prince Ibara.

Team News

Mumbai’s defender Amey Ranawade is ruled out of the season

For Mumbai, the only known injury update is that Amey Ranawade will miss the remainder of the season following a knee injury while a young defender Halen Nongtdu has been signed and will be eligible to play from January. 

Mumbai City has gone with the same lineup for the last three games and it is unlikely they will change their XI. However, in their previous fixture, three substitutes came on from the bench to score goals and will be pushing for a spot in the starting XI. 

For Bengaluru, Prince Ibara is yet to feature in the ISL and it is understood that the player hasn’t started training yet. The team hasn’t been able to call up midfielder Javier Hernandez a lot too with the player coming off the bench in the initial matches due to lack of fitness.

He then had to miss the game against Odisha due to personal reasons but now the team will hope that the player can give them all 90+ minutes in a game. In their previous fixture, Bengaluru also missed Sivasakthi Narayanan and will be hoping to have him back. 

Predicted XIs

Mumbai City (4-3-3): Phurba Lachenpa, Rahul Bheke, Mehtab Singh, Mandar Dessai, Rostyn Griffiths, Ahmed Jahouh, Lalengmawia Ralte, Lallianzuala Chhangte, Greg Stewart, Bipin Singh, Jorge Diaz.

Bengaluru (4-3-1-2): Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Namgyal Bhutia, Sandesh Jhingan, Aleksandar Jovanovic, Naorem Roshan Singh, Udanta Singh Kumam, Suresh Singh Wangjam, Bruno Ramires, Javi Hernandez, Sunil Chhetri, Roy Krishna.

Prediction

With the current run of form, Mumbai City is the favorite for this clash. The Islanders have shown that they have the character to bounce back strong and their squad depth also shows the talent in their roster. While Bengaluru is no less, the team haven’t had the momentum their way and will have to work the hard way out in this fixture.