Bottom-placed East Bengal FC will make another bid for their first win of the season when they take on NorthEast United FC in the eighth match of the Indian Super League (ISL) season here on Friday. East Bengal, who had suffered six consecutive defeats, opened the Kolkata derby on November 9 with a scoreless draw against Mohammedan Sporting. They will now want to take a step forward and grab all three points in front of the Yuva Bharati Krirangan home crowd. On the other hand, the Highlanders have continued to perform well this season and are currently in 3rd place with 15 points after 9 games with 4 wins and 3 draws.
Over the past five games, they’ve scored 21 points, conceded just 15, and lost just once. They are five points behind leaders Bangalore FC (20th) but will be confident of closing the gap given how well they have put the pieces of the jigsaw together recently.
The two teams have met eight times so far, with NorthEast United and East Bengal FC winning four and two matches respectively. Several matches ended in draws.
NorthEast United have been on an incredible run of late, with three wins and one draw in their last four meetings. If they can avoid defeat in Friday’s matchup, it will be their longest undefeated streak since going 11 games from January to March 2021.
East Bengal FC head coach Oscar Bourzon admitted that NorthEast United will play on the front foot in this match, but assured that the home side have done their homework properly.
“I don’t think Northeast United FC is coming here to neutralize our attack, but they are coming here to try to score more goals themselves,” Barzon said.
“That’s what I know from what they’ve done up front in recent games. We’ll try to play our best game and win the game,” he added.
Northeast United head coach Juan Pedro Benali said it will be important to maintain a fine balance between attacking instincts and defensive discipline in this match.
“Each game is a different story. We need to create big chances to score, but at the same time make it just as difficult for the opponent to do it. That’s our goal, because if we can score We know that and that’s a very important part of (our team’s gameplay),” Benali said. PTI PDS AM PDS AM AM
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