NorthEast United and Kerala Blasters are both searching for a win as they meet at Guwahati. Both teams are also yet to keep a clean sheet this season.
The Tuskers suffered their second home loss of the season suffering a 2-0 defeat to Mumbai City FC two days before the Highlanders were beaten 1-0 by Jamshedpur FC.
NEUFC vs KBFC Match Details
Date: Saturday, 5 November 2022
Time: 19:30 (IST)
Venue: Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium, Guwahati
NEUFC vs KBFC Match Preview
With coach Marco Balbul losing his temper on the sidelines again shown a red card for the second time this season, NorthEast collapsed to their fourth straight defeat of the season. Peter Hartley was the scorer of the only goal of the game for Jamshedpur FC with a close finish from a corner in the half-hour mark to add to the disappointment of the Highlanders again arriving as second-best in the game. It is already the worst start to an ISL campaign in the franchise’s history with the Highlanders looking at another possibility of a bottom-placed finish like last season. They have created more blocks on the road with little signs of things getting better in the upcoming games. With no points on the board, NorthEast have managed to score only one goal and conceded eight in those losses. Frustrating figures for Balbul to solve if he can maintain his own cool. The Israeli’s job is under fire without the desired results and the next three games this month will define his status at the club. The mountainous task is to get the right balance in the team with a leadership figure lacking massively. Midfielder Jon Gaztanaga probably looks like the only player making a difference although his impact will shrink if others do not turn up. There is little optimism inside the squad but they can fancy their chances against Kerala Blasters who are on a similar if not on the same track as them this season. NorthEast have also won three of the last four meetings with the Tuskers including two clean sheets. It is left to see whether the record comes to their fruition on Saturday and inspires them to the first victory of the campaign.
Since their opening day win against East Bengal at Kochi, Kerala Blasters have not seen the sight of winning in the last three ISL matches with a heavy 5-2 loss to ATK Mohun Bagan and a 2-0 loss to Mumbai City FC at home with the first away game of the season resulting in another defeat to Odisha FC. Against the Highlanders, Kerala Blasters will argue that luck was against them as even going two goals behind within half an hour they made a decent attempt to comeback in the game only to find opposition number one Phurba Lachenpa impenetrable with three huge saves, seven of their shots getting blocked, striking the crossbar and some howling misses. Badly out of form, Ivan Vukamanovic’s side is finding it difficult to create the same durability the team showed last season in the run-up to the final. The Tuskers have failed to keep a clean sheet so far this season and have conceded an unwanted 10 goals even with the same formidable center-back pair from the previous campaign in the back four. Previously, the Serbian said his team is lacking in intensity as well as in mentality to swing games in their favor causing them to be inconsistent in their display. The Tuskers will feel they face NorthEast United at the right time to recover themselves from falling further behind the playoff spots despite this venue not being a happy hunting ground for them in recent memory. Their last win in Guwahati came back in 2018. Kerala Blasters also won the doubleheaders against the hosts last season in the centralized venue at Goa. If the Tuskers fail to obtain a positive result at the weekend it will get a lot tougher for them with second-placed Goa, champions Hyderabad FC and Shield Winners Jamshedpur FC to face in the next three games after this fixture.
Recent Form
NUFC: LLLL
KBFC: LLLW
NEUFC vs KBFC Predicted Lineups
NUFC: Mirshad Michu; Mohamed Irshad, Aaron Evans, Michael Jakobsen, Gurjinder Kumar; Jon Gaztanaga, Emanuel Lalchhanchhuaha, Imran Khan; Emil Benny, Matt Derbyshire, Jithin MS.
KBFC: Prabhsukhan Gill; Harmanjot Khabra, Marko Leskovic, Hormipam Ruivah, Jessel Carneiro; Sahal Abdul Samad, Puitea, Ivan Kaliuzhnyi, Jeakson Singh, Adrian Luna; Dimitrios Diamantakos.
NEUFC vs KBFC Dream11 Team Prediction
GK: Gill (8)
DEF: Khabra (9), Hormipam (8), Jakobsen (7), Carneiro (8)
MID: Kaliuzhnyi (9), Gaztanaga (8.5), Luna (9)
FW: Diamantakos (7.5), Derbyshire (9), Jithin (8.5)
Vice-captain: Nicolas Luna
Captain: Ivan Kaliuzhnyi
Stay tuned to Fantasy Football for upcoming matches.
