BFC vs EBFC Match Details
Time: 20:00 (IST)
Venue: Kanteerava Stadium, Bangalore
BFC vs EBFC Match Preview
The plan to restrict Mohun Bagan Super Giant at their home and snatch a point out of the fixture was foiled when Hugo Boumous slammed in the winner in the 67th minute. The goal came after a mistake by Aleksander Jovanovic which was pounced upon by Jason Cummings to assist the French Moroccan. The team was also reduced to nine men with Suresh Wangjam with a second yellow and Roshan Singh a direct red minutes later, both for denying Dimitri Petratos scoring opportunities, which added to the frustration. Mohun Bagan being wasteful with their chances later on saved Bengaluru FC from further embarrassment in Kolkata. Losing two key players of the team and the first two matches of the season have now put them in a difficult position. Though it is early in the season and the Blues have come back unexpectedly before, they cannot rely on that method every time to pull them out of trouble. Their challenge also increases as they play their first home game of the season against East Bengal who has gone the first two games unbeaten for the maiden time in an ISL campaign. Bengaluru FC have also not won this meeting at Kanteerava adding more pressure on them. Simon Grayson will hope Sunil Chhetri’s return to club duties from the Asian Games will give them an attacking influx to end their three-game losing streak in all competitions.
Salt Lake stadium erupted in Red and Gold joy after their talisman Cleiton Silva, starting in the second match, scored the winner of a match with a last-minute free-kick again to secure a 2-1 victory over Hyderabad FC. It was the Brazilian who scored the equalizer in the first half after Hitesh Sharma gave the Nizams the lead with a delicate chip into the empty net. Moreover, East Bengal did not have to wait long to get their first win of the campaign and has now suffered just one loss in the last 11 matches in all competitions. Eight of the previous games have been managed by Carles Cuadrat who has surely brought transformative changes to the club. East Bengal will now wish to carry on their unbeaten streak as they make the trip to face Bengaluru FC in the third match of the season. They have enjoyed playing at Kanteerava even at their worst period winning their first as well as the last meeting in the ISL while staying unbeaten in five from their I-League days. The Kolkata giants also edge the Blues slightly on overall head-to-head battle. The game will also be special for Cuadrat as he visits his former club to whom he gave them their first and only ISL trophy so far back in 2019. Bengaluru never have quite reached the heights again and the Spaniard will wish to remind them of it after a bitter end to his tenure there.
BFC vs EBFC Team News
Bengaluru FC will have Sunil Chhetri and Rohit Danu available for selection after returning from national duties in the Asian Games. The skipper could slot directly starting in the lineup with Sivasakhti joining him in the two-men frontline. For East Bengal, Lalchungnunga will be back in defence after his Asian Games commitment while the new signing Hijazi Maher could be in contention to start as well. Cleiton Silva will face his former club having also scored a direct free-kick last time these two met.BFC vs EBFC Predicted Lineups
BFC: Gurpreet Singh Sandhu; Parag Srivas, Aleksander Jovanovic, Slavko Damjanovic, Jessel Carneiro; Ryan Williams, Javi Hernandez, Rohit Kumar, Namgyal Bhutia; Sivasakhti Narayanan, Sunil Chhetri
EBFC: Prabhsukhan Gill; Nishu Kumar, Lalchungnunga, Jose Pardo, Mandar Dessai; Nadha Kumar, Souvik Chakrabarti, Saul Crespo, Borja Herrera, Mahesh Singh; Cleiton Silva
BFC vs EBFC Head to Head (ISL)
Played - 6
BFC won - 2
Drawn - 1
EBFC won - 3
BFC vs EBFC Dream11 Prediction
GK: P Singh (7.5)
DEF: Jovanovic (8.5), Damjanovic (8), Pardo (7)
MID: Javi (9), Williams (8.5), Crespo (8), Herrera (8.5)
FW: Mahesh (8), C Silva (9) Chhetri (8.5)
Vice-captain: Borja Herrera
Captain: Cleiton Silva
