Fifth-placed Kerala Blasters welcome rivals leaders Bengaluru FC in an electrifying Southern derby at Kochi.
KBFC vs BEN Match Details
Date: Friday, 25 October 2024
Time: 19:30 (IST)
Venue: Kaloor Stadium, Kochi
KBFC vs BEN Match Preview
Kerala Blasters have long forgotten their 2-1 loss to Punjab FC in their league opener, staying unbeaten in the last four games including a 2-1 victory over Mohammedan SC this past weekend. Mirjalol Kasimov’s first-half lead from the penalty spot was overturned by substitute Kwame Pehrah and Jesus Jimenez’s strike with the Blasters returning to winning ways in their third straight-away match after consecutive draws to NorthEast United and Odisha FC. The Tuskers now pose the opportunity to climb to third in the ISL table with three points but they face their high-flying rivals at Kochi. Despite winning the last two Southern derbies at home, Blasters are aware of the different challenge Bengaluru FC will pose this time leading the table by making an unbeaten start to the season. Still, Mikael Stahre’s side wants to carry their unbeaten run by avoiding defeat in the fixture with slightly easier games to come after this.
Bengaluru FC and Punjab engaged in an early top-two fight in the ISL with the former collecting all three points in the battle through Roshan Singh’s only goal of the game despite Chinglensana’s marching orders. It was the fourth win in the first five games as the Blues reaffirmed their position on top of the standings with a sensational beginning. Gerard Zaragoxa’s side is the only unbeaten team in the tournament this season and carries the best defence conceding no goals. Making their second away trip to Kochi, having played a goalless draw with ISL Cup winners Mumbai City, the former ISL winners wish to carry the momentum forward against their Southern rivals to extend their lead at the top to four points. Bengaluru FC will be quite confident of claiming another positive result having trumiphed in nine of the 15 meetings in the league and also claming a 1-0 victory over the Yellow Army in the Durand Cup this summer.
Recent Forms
KBFC: LWDDW
BEN: WWWDW
KBFC vs BEN Predicted Lineups
Kerala Blasters
Som Kumar; Sandeep Singh, Pritam Kotal, Alexandre Coeff, Huidrom Naocha Singh; Vibin Mohanan, Danish Farooq, Adrian Luna; Rahul KP, Jesus Jimenez, Noah Sadaoui
Bengaluru FC
Gurpreet Singh; Nikhil Poojari, Rahul Bheke, Aleksandar Jovanovic, Roshan Singh; Vinith Venkatesh, Alberto Noguera, Pedro Capo, Suresh Singh; Sunil Chhetri, Edgar Mendez
KBFC vs BEN Head-to-head (ISL)
Played - 15
KBFC won - 4
Drawn - 2
BEN won - 9
KBFC vs BEN Head-to-head (In Kochi)
Played - 4
KBFC won - 2
Drawn - 0
BEN won - 2
KBFC vs BEN Dream11 Top picks
Captain Pick: Sunil Chhetri,
Vice-captain Picks: Alberto Noguera, Noah Sadaoui
KBFC vs BEN Dream11 Team Suggestion
GK: Gurpreet (Cr - 7.5)
DEF: Poojary (Cr - 8.5), Bheke (Cr - 8.5), Roshan (Cr - 8), Huidrom (Cr - 6.5),
MID: Luna (Cr - 8.5), Noguera (Cr - 8.5), Sadaoui (Cr - 8)
FW: Mendez (Cr - 7.5), Jimenez (Cr - 8.5), Chhetri (Cr - 9)
Vice-captain: Alberto Noguera
Captain: Sunil Chhetri
Kerala Blasters vs Bengaluru FC Match Prediction
Bengaluru FC looks to be head and shoulders above every team at the moment, being the favorites again to claim all three points against Kerala Blasters this time. We predict another 1-0 victory for the Blues.
