Mumbai City vs East Bengal: Preview and Prediction
Mumbai City and East Bengal will cross paths in ‘Match 98’ of the 2021-22 Indian Super League season at the Fatorda Stadium on Tuesday. This will be an extremely crucial match for the Islanders in terms of their semi-final hopes, whilst for the Red and Golds, the season is as good as over.
Defending champions Mumbai City has not been as formidable as they were last year, but have produced enough match-winning performances to remain in the hunt for a semi-final ticket. With 25 points from 16 matches, the Islanders are occupying fifth place in the standings.
On the other hand, East Bengal has tried changing players and head coaches, but nothing has worked so far for them. The Kolkata giants are languishing at the very bottom of the table, having accumulated 10 points from 17 matches.
Current Form
Mumbai City has had a stop-start journey all throughout this season and their current form is a testament to that. In their last three matches, Des Buckingham’s men have secured six points.
The Islanders were handed a 3-2 defeat by Jamshedpur in their previous encounter. This defeat came down like a hammer blow, as they registered two consecutive wins before taking on the Red Miners – a 4-1 rout against Odisha and a hard-fought 1-0 win against Chennaiyin.
East Bengal is among the two teams who have not won any of their last five matches, and in their previous three fixtures, Mario Rivera’s men have picked up only a solitary point.
The Red and Golds are coming into this match on the back of two successive defeats. They lost 1-0 against Kerala Blasters in the previous encounter and faced a 2-1 loss against Odisha in the preceding hame. However, Rivera’s men played out a 2-2 draw against Chennaiyin before these two losses.
Head to Head Record
Mumbai City clearly holds the edge when it comes to head-to-head records since they have won two of the three previous meetings against East Bengal, with the other match ending in a stalemate.
That stalemate was played out earlier this season where the Red and Golds miraculously managed to restrict the defending champions to a 0-0 stalemate. The Islanders had 15 shots on target and also 71% of the possession, but East Bengal’s defense could not be breached.
Team News
Brad Inman could be handed a start by Buckingham
Buckingham is expected to make two changes to his starting XI that lost 3-2 against Jamshedpur, one of which could be a forced change. Ahmed Jahouh sustained an injury in that match and had to leave the field early. In his place, Australian midfielder Brad Inman can slot in alongside Apuia Ralte.
Besides that, Mandar Rao Dessai could be dropped to the bench as he had a tough time dealing with the pacy Boris Singh in the last game. Vignesh Dakshinamurthy could be reinstated in the left-back position at Mandar’s expense.
Similarly, Rivera will also be forced to make at least one tweak to the team that lost against Kerala Blasters, as full-back Hira Mondal needs to serve a one-game suspension after picking up four yellow cards.
Amarjit Singh Kiyam could be moved back to the right-back position in Hira’s absence, while Jackichand Singh could feature on the flanks. Besides that, Sourav Das and Marcelo Ribeiro are likely to come in for Lalrinliana Hnamte and Rahul Paswan respectively.
Predicted Starting Lineups
Mumbai City (4-2-3-1): Mohamad Nawaz; Rahul Bheke, Mourtada Fall, Mehtab Singh, Vignesh Dakshinamurthy; Apuia Ralte, Brad Inman; Lallianzuala Chhangte, Cassinho, Bipin Singh; Igor Angulo.
East Bengal (4-4-2): Sankar Roy; Amarjit Singh Kiyam, Joyner Lourenco, Franjo Prce, Huidrom Naocha Singh; Jackichand Singh, Fran Sota, Sourav Das, Mohammad Rafique; Antonio Perosevic, Marcelo Ribeiro.
Prediction
Mumbai City will be desperate to get back to winning ways and they will not get a better opportunity than this game, given how East Bengal has performed this season. Hence, we have predicted a 2-0 win for the Islanders.