Kerala Blasters vs East Bengal FC Preview, Predicted lineup, injury news, H2H, telecast details | ISL 2024-25

Both teams will look to bounce back to winning ways.

Kerala Blasters host East Bengal in the Indian Super League (ISL) at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium (Kochi) on Sunday (22 September), with both sides desperate to get their first points on board.

Having suffered gutting defeats in matchday one, the Tuskers and Red & Gold Brigade will be pushing to get a big win to properly kickstart their campaign and move up the league table.

The Stakes

Kerala Blasters

Kerala Blasters sustained a nasty loss to Punjab in their first game after a dramatic finish to the game. But Mikael Stahre’s side are aware that there is a lot of football yet to be played this season and will push to thrill their devoted home support with some exciting attacking football against East Bengal.

Kerala Blasters desperately need a win to gain some much-needed momentum and get the new era underway properly. A dominant performance with a positive result will raise the spirits in the squad. But another loss at home can spark crisis talk and further demotivate the mentality of both the players and fans.

East Bengal

East Bengal are a bit unlucky to start their campaign with back-to-back away games. But Carles Cuadrat is aware that it’s these away games that his side needs to win to ensure playoff qualification at the end of the league stages. East Bengal will need to raise their attacking quality after a grim display against Bengaluru FC, with the players having to be more clinical and creative in the final third.

A win in Kochi can help install some self-belief in the Red & Gold Brigade unit as well as ease the fans’ tension. A draw might not be the worst result, but another gutting away loss can raise more questions about the overall chemistry of the squad.

Injury & Team News

Kerala Blasters

Kerala Blasters will miss the service of Adrian Luna as he is yet to completely recover from his illness.

East Bengal

East Bengal are still sweating on the fitness of defenders Nishu Kumar and Provat Lakra, who got injured in the pre-season campaign. Lalchungnunga is suspended after getting sent off in the last match.

Head-to-Head

Matches Played – 8

Kerala Blasters wins – 3

East Bengal wins – 2

Draws – 3

Predicted Lineups

Kerala Blasters (4-2-3-1)

Sachin Suresh (GK); Sandeep Singh, Pritam Kotal, Milos Drincic, Aibanbha Dohling; Vibin Mohanan, Alexandre Coeff; Rahul KP, Noah Sadoui, Mohammed Aimen; Jesus Jimenez

East Bengal (4-3-3)

Prabhsukhan Gill (GK); Mohamed Rakip, Anwar Ali, Hijazi Maher, Mark Zothanpuia; Jeakson Singh, Saul Crespo, Madih Talal; Naorem Mahesh Singh, Nandhakumar Sekar, Dimitri Diamantakos

Players To Watch

Jesus Jimenez (Kerala Blasters)

Jesus Jimenez had quite the eventful debut for Kerala Blasters, making an instant impact as a substitute by scoring a super header. The Brazilian forward should get his first start against East Bengal and needs to use his feistiness in the final third to trouble the East Bengal backline. He has to time his movement and run into the empty spaces perfectly to disrupt the opposition defenders’ rhythm and get them to make mistakes.

Jimenez will look to link up nicely with teammates and also try to open up space for Noah Sadaoui and the other forwards to penetrate through to goal. But his biggest task will be to get into the right areas in the box and use his clinical finishing ability to terrorize the visitors.

Dimitrios Diamantakos (East Bengal)

After spending two years at Kerala Blasters, Dimitrios Diamantakos left the club earlier this year. He now returns to his former hunting ground in Red & Gold colors. Diamantakos will be aiming to prove his doubters wrong and make Kerala regret the decision to let him leave. He had a quiet ISL debut for East Bengal in the last game, but the Greek forward should not be underestimated at all.

Diamantakos will look to add some more aggressiveness to his side’s frontline by dropping deep to help orchestrate more moves and add urgency to the attacking moves. He knows how the centre-backs operate and will look to use that to outwit them, getting past his marker into prime areas and intricately finishing chances to help his side get a big result from Kochi.

Did you know?

• The last three matches between Kerala Blasters and East Bengal have seen a total of four red cards brandished to players.
• East Bengal have won two of their last three meetings against Kerala Blasters, after having failed to win on five previous occasions before.
• Sandeep Singh made four tackles in Kerala’s win over Punjab FC, the second-most for any player in matchday one.

Telecast Details

The Kerala Blasters vs East Bengal clash will take place at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Kochi on Sunday (22 September). It will kick off at 7:30 PM IST. The match will be shown live on Sports 18 and be streamed online on Jio Cinema. International viewers can also watch the game on the OneFootball app.

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