Mumbai City FC starts their second phase of the 2021/22 ISL season on Monday battling with Bengaluru FC at the Fatorda Stadium. Marco Pezzaiouli's men are unbeaten in their last four games while the Islanders haven't registered a win in the same amount of games.
MCFC vs BFC Match Details :
When: Monday, January 10th
Time: 19:30 (IST)
Where: Fatorda Stadium
MCFC vs BFC Match Preview :
The sky blue shirts were left frustrated following the 0-0 draw against a defensively disciplined SC East Bengal, the points dropped restricting them to hold strongly on top of the ISL table. It also left them without a victory since December 15th last year. Facing a team at the bottom of the chart, Mumbai City were understandably favorites to gain points out of the fixture to prevent their miserable run of late to extend further.
Instead, they faced a resident side directed by the interim boss Renedy Singh that worked collectively to hold off the titleholders. Mumbai wished to have got more about the game due to some contentious referee decisions and were restricted to a season-low two shots on target. Although coach Des Buckingham has stuck to his character and has said to move on by focusing on the next set of fixtures to recover their lost form. Any further points dropped this time will only allow others to grab on the opportunity as the league enters an interesting period of the season.
Bengaluru FC also faced a real challenge from the same opposition, SC East Bengal in the 1-1 draw to begin 2022.
The Blues will feel extremely lucky to not come away with a defeat in the clash after going down on the half-hour mark through a strike from Haokip only to be saved by an unfortunate own goal from Sourav Das. However, the point ensured BFC are now unbeaten in the last four games, three draws and a win, after three consecutive losses in early December let them rattled. Their defense was compromised in three of those games but have scored eight goals in that period. Marco Pezzaiouli will feel this cannot be a better time to face the league leaders devoid of finding the winning formula and start the second half of the campaign with three points. For that, BFC needs to find more option for a goal source other than their top scorer, Cleiton Silva with five goals. The club's other top scorers are defender Alan Costa and striker Prince Ibarra each with only two goals to their name.
Recent Form :
Mumbai City FC: WLDLD
Bengaluru FC: LDDWD
MCFC vs BFC Team News :
Star midfielder Ahmed Jahouh will miss this game through suspension after receiving his fourth booking of the season in the draw against SC East Bengal. Jahouh has been the marksman for the champions this season, topping the assists chart with six and has been the midfield maestro for Mumbai City since stepping onto the Indian soil.
Vinit Rai joined the team from Odisha on loan in the ongoing transfer window, is set to make his first start alongside Apuia in the Moroccan's absence. However, the fixture arrives sooner for the injured winger Vikram Pratap Singh. Phurba Lachenpa is expected to retain his goalkeeping spot ahead of Mohammad Nawaz. There are no fresh injury issues for BFC to think about ahead of the pivotal clash.
MCFC vs BFC Expected Lineups :
Mumbai City FC: Phurba Lachenpa; Amey Ranawade, Mourtada Fall, Rahul Bheke, Vignesh Dakshinamurthy, Apuia, Vinit Rai, Raynier Fernandes, Cassio Gabriel, Bipin Singh, Igor Angulo
Bengaluru FC: Gurpreet; Roshan Singh, Parag Shrivas, Alan Costa, Ashique Kuruniyan, Bruno Edgar, Suresh Wangjam, Udanta Singh, Sunil Chettri, Prince Ibarra, Cleiton Silva
MCFC vs BFC Head to Head :
It was a game to watch when Mumbai City took on Bengaluru FC earlier in the campaign. BFC's strong start to the game was thwarted by an Igor Angulo penalty lead after Alan Costa handled the ball in the box. Cleiton Silva then produced a magical freekick to restore priority having hit the crossbar early in the match. The drama unfolded deep into the first half when Sunil Chettri missed from the spot for the second game running before Mourtada Fall nodded in from Jahouh's freekick and Catatau scored in the 87th minute to secure the win for the Islanders.
MCFC vs BFC Dream11 Team Prediction :
GK: Gurpreet (BFC)
DEF: Reagan (BFC), Fall (MCFC), Costa (BFC), Ashique (BFC)
MID: Bruno (BFC), Apuia (MCFC), Cassio (MCFC)
FW: Udanta Singh (BFC), Angulo (MCFC), Silva (BFC)
