KBFC vs CFC Match Details
Date: Wednesday, 29 November 2023
Time: 20:00 (IST)
Venue: Kaloor Stadium, Kochi
KBFC vs CFC Match Preview
Kerala Blasters scraped through a 1-0 victory against Hyderabad FC, placed second-bottom of the table, with the 41st-minute goal from the returning defender Milos Drincic. The home side held on to their lead till the end with goalkeeper Sachin Suresh having another excellent game between the sticks. The Nawabs tried their best but could not breach the strong defence of the Blasters who have now equalled points with table-toppers FC Goa. Ivan Vukomanovic’s side will overtake the Gaurs to the first place with their sixth win of the campaign and maintaining their unbeaten streak at home this season. Against Chennaiyin FC, who has won just one away incidentally against Hyderabad FC, Kerala Blasters will be hoping for a positive result again with their Southern rivals sitting seventh on the table. They also won this encounter in Kochi 2-1 last time staying unbeaten in the last six meetings. Blasters are relying on their talisman Adrian Luna again who has a hand in goal in the last four matches, six in seven matches overall.
Chennaiyin FC will not be happy with the record or their inconsistency as they had to pounce upon an opposition mistake to rescue a late draw against East Bengal on Saturday. Ninthoi Meetei scored the 86th-minute equaliser after the Marina Machans trailed at home by an own goal from Ayush Adhikari in the first half. Owen Coyle’s team will argue they were the better team before and after going behind considering the goal-scoring opportunities they created. The lack of finishing those chances cost them again. Added to that, Ryan Edwards’s dismissal towards the end gave new question mark on their defensive set-up for the difficult trip to Kochi. Chennaiyin have lost all their matches against the present top six with Kerala Blasters and Mumbai City FC left to play. Still, they will want to manage something different this time to end the month strongly and enter the playoff places.
KBFC vs CFC Team News
Kerala Blasters suspension crisis will be over in the Southern India clash on Wednesday. Milos Drincic and Prabir Das returned from suspension in the last match with the former scoring the winner. The centre-back will retain his spot in the back-four while the right-back starts from the bench again. Striker Dimitrios Diamantakos is back from suspension as well having received a second booking for removing his jersey after scoring the eventual winner against East Bengal before the international break.
Chennaiyin FC is struggling with players being absent like center-back Ryan Edwards given his marching orders last game and forward Connor Shields and defender Aakash Sangwan ruled out through injuries. However, they can call back Rahim Ali from injury while Jordan Murray is available to start again after getting a bang on his head in the last match. Ninthoi Meetei scored the late equaliser for Chennaiyin, off the bench, on his return from injury. He will be knocking on the manager’s door to start this match.
KBFC vs CFC Predicted Lineups
KBFC: Sachin Suresh; Pritam Kotal, Ruivah Hormipam, Milos Drincic, Naocha Singh; Rahul KP, Vibin Mohanan, Danish Farooq, Daisuke Sakai; Dimitrios Diamantakos, Adrian Luna
CFC: Debjit Majumder; Ajith Kumar, Bikash Yumnam, Lazar Cirkovic, Ankit Mukherjee; Cristian Battocchio, Jiteshwor Singh; Ninthoi Meetei, Rafael Crivellaro, Vincy Barretto; Jordan Murray
KBFC vs CFC Dream11 Prediction
GK: Suresh (7.5)
DEF: Kotal (8.5), Drincic (7.5), Ankit (8)
MID: Crivellaro (9), Sakai (8.5), Farooq (8.5), Battocchio (7.5), Luna (9)
FW: (8.5), Barretto (7.5)
Vice-captain: Rafael Crivellaro
Captain: Adrian Luna
