Preview: Bengaluru FC eye top-four spot against bottom NorthEast United

The Blues are at sixth with 23 points.

Bengaluru FC will be desperate to get back to winning ways and more importantly stay close to the top-four pack when they take on rock-bottom NorthEast United FC in the 2021-22 Indian Super League at the PJN Stadium in Fatorda on Friday.

The Blues saw their three-game winning run come to an end against league leaders Hyderabad FC the other night. But head coach Marco Pezzaouli would like to believe the result was just a bad day in the office for his charges who have been in good form otherwise, and against struggling NorthEast United it is a golden opportunity to get back in the mix.

The Stakes

Bengaluru FC

With 4 games remaining, Bengaluru need to win all their remaining games if they are to have any chance of progressing to the semi-finals.

Bengaluru are in sixth spot with 23 points from 16 outings, six adrift of Hyderabad and second-placed ATK Mohun Bagan. The former champions have a few key players missing for the game on Friday.

"Ashique and Roshan are not available, Rohit and Jayesh as well. In terms of long-term injuries, King, Amay, Harmanpreet are still missing. We have some players who are still suffering after the COVID situation," said Pezzaiuoli ahead of the game.

The Blues added defender Yaya Banana to their squad in the January transfer window and Pezzaiuoli said they need to take a careful approach with the Cameroonian defender as he had an 11-day quarantine period. "Yaya has trained for a week with us, we have to be careful about him because he had an 11 day quarantine period. We need to prepare him for the next steps. He can create an overload in midfield and is very good defensively."

On NorthEast United who have not tasted victory this year, enduring a 10-game winless run, the coach said: "I think they are a good, offensive team with good players who are individually skilled. They have some new faces as well, and we've watched their most recent games.

"We know how we played in the first game against them, obviously they are not the same team. They created chances in that game and that's something we want to avoid."

Bengaluru will miss Roshan Singh a lot as he has been a key player for them this season, having six assists to his name, the joint second highest after Ahmed Jahouh (7). No Indian player has more assists this season than Roshan. Four of Roshan's assists have come from corner kicks. He is one of the main reasons why BFC (8) have scored more goals from corners than any other side.

NorthEast United

Coming to NorthEast United, their season is all but over and the Highlanders have only pride to play for. With just 10 points in their kitty from 17 matches, Khalid Jamil's side have managed just two wins so far having thrown away as many as 16 points from winning positions.

VP Suhair ended an 8-game goalless drought as he scored NorthEast United’s opening goal in their defeat to ATK Mohun Bagan and the striker will look to continue his form.

"Bengaluru have experienced players and we cannot take this match lightly. We have to finish the season strongly, for everyone in the camo, it is a serious game," said Jamil.

Team News

NorthEast United FC

The Highlanders will have a fully fit squad for their 18th game of the season.

Bengaluru FC

Naorem Roshan Singh is suspended after picking up his seventh yellow card of the season. Moreover, midfielders Jayesh Rane and Rohit Kumar are also missing with injuries.

Probable Starting XI

NorthEast United FC: Subhasish Roy Chowdhury (GK); Provat Lakra, Mashoor Shereef, Zakaria Diallo, Gurjinder Kumar; Hernan Santana (C), Imran Khan, Mohamed Irshad; Marcelinho, Deshorn Brown, VP Suhair.

Bengaluru FC: Gurpreet Singh Sandhu (GK); Parag Shrivas, Pratik Chaudhari, Alan Costa, Ashique Kuruniyan; Suresh Wangjam, Bruno Ramires, Danish Farooq; Prince Ibara, Sunil Chhetri, Cleiton Silva.

Head to Head

NorthEast United FC and Bengaluru FC have faced each other eleven times in the league. Bengaluru FC have won six times while the Highlanders have won just one and the remaining four games have ended in a draw.

Did You Know?

• NorthEast United FC have beaten Bengaluru FC just once in 11 meetings.
• This fixture averages 2.6 goals per game.
• Both sides have conceded more than 50 goals combined this season.

Telecast

The match between NorthEast United vs Bengaluru FC will be played at the PJN Stadium in Fatorda, Goa from 7:30 pm. The game will be telecasted live on the Star Sports Network. It will also be live-streamed on Disney+Hotstar and JioTV.

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