Ecstatic from their much-needed victory against Bengaluru FC, East Bengal now aims to build a winning momentum to vie for the playoff places with Odisha FC visiting them at Saltlake Stadium.
Cleiton Silva had a personal moment in scoring against his old team to hand East Bengal only their second win of the campaign while Odisha FC’s two-game winning run was halted by table-toppers Hyderabad FC in a 1-0 defeat.
EBFC vs OFC Match Details
Date: Friday, 18 October 2022
Time: 19:30 (IST)
Venue: Saltlake Stadium, Kolkata
EBFC vs OFC Match Preview
How badly East Bengal needed that victory! At a time when everything was looking to be on the fringes for the Red and Gold Brigade, Cleiton Silva popped up with his magic in the 69th minute to claim all three points in Kanteerava Stadium with the home support stunned and tears of joy rolling for away fans. Stephen Constantine’s men could have not imagined getting the victory at a period when they looked doom and gloom and which will help them turn the table around for the season. Even though the opposition took more shots, East Bengal were putting more shots on target something largely in the other games. They got the reward for that at the end which was their first goal since the 3-1 win against NorthEast United last month. But the most important part was the first clean sheet gained this season, ending a five-game conceding streak. Everything clicked for the Torch Bearers on the evening which they want to carry forward into the next games. However, they face a crunching schedule with Odisha to face next and then against Hyderabad FC and Mumbai City to think of after the clash against Shield winners Jamshedpur FC. East Bengal will certainly wish to grab two more victories for a positive November before they can march against the top two next month. Against the Juggernauts, they would like to do better than the last three meetings with them. Their last win in this fixture came in the inaugural meet last year with the Red and Gold triumphing 3-1. East Bengal wishes to keep the wind in their sails as the team slowly looks to jell with the manager’s tactics.
Manager Josep Gombau will not scratch his head on the 1-0 defeat to Hyderabad FC in Odisha FC’s last game looking at the excellent winning form the Nizams are in. Instead, the Juggernauts will wish to replace the loss in a more favorable schedule coming up. In the next three, Gombau’s side faces East Bengal, Chennaiyin FC and NorthEast United all placed below them in the league table. However, the Juggernauts will be worried about the Kolkata giants hitting form at the wrong time when they want to have momentum going. In fact, East Bengal are only three points behind them for a playoff spot. Odisha FC’s away form is also not that great. Since their 3-2 comeback win at Jamshedpur in the opening game, the Juggernauts have lost 2-0 to Mumbai City FC and then this loss to Hyderabad FC. They will argue that those defeats came against two unbeaten sides this season and points have been easily found against teams below them. Not scoring a goal on the away trip since the first game will be a worry. Striker Diego Mauricio have not scored in the last four games after a fiery brace to start the campaign. However, he has previously shined against East Bengal. He scored and delivered an assist in the goal-spilling 6-5 win in February last year. Odisha FC also had another massive score-line facing the Red and Gold in November of 2021 when it was one less goal for the opposition but they managed to score six again. Even at a time when neither was scoring a flurry of goals. There is little chance such massive score-lines will spring again although it will be a closely contested battle again.
Recent Form
EB: WLLWL
OFC: LWWLW
EBFC vs OFC Predicted Lineups
EB: Kamaljit Singh; Sarthak Golui, Lalchungnunga, Ivan Gonzalez, Ankit Mukherjee; VP Suhair, Jordan O’Doherty, Charalambos Kyriakou, Naorem Mahesh Singh; Semboi Haokip, Cleiton Silva
OFC: Amrinder Singh; Denechandra Meitei, Osama Malik, Carlos Delgado, Sahil Panwar; Raynier Fernandes, Saul Crespo, Thoiba Singh; Jerry Mawihmingthanga, Diego Mauricio, Nandhakumar Sekar
EBFC vs OFC Dream11 Team Prediction
GK: Amrinder (8.5)
DEF: Gonzalez (8), Delgado (9), Kyriakou (8.5), Panwar (8.5)
MID: Crespo (8), O’Doherty (9), Sekar (8)
FW: Jerry (8), Mauricio (9), Silva (9)
Vice-captain: Diego Mauricio
Captain: Cleiton Silva
Stay tuned to Fantasy Football for upcoming matches.
