Mohun Bagan Super Giant will look to assert their dominance over arch-rivals East Bengal in the ISL when they face each other on Saturday in a match which has been shifted to Guwahati owing to inadequate security arrangements here.
Bagan, the ‘hosts’ of this match, have won eight out of the nine encounters between the two teams in ISL history, with East Bengal yet to record a victory. East Bengal have struggled in terms of scoring, having netted only five goals in this fixture.
Their form has also been patchy in ISL-XI, registering two wins in their last five games, which has seen them placed 11th in the points table.
Mohun Bagan are sitting comfortably at the top of the table on 32 points with 10 wins from 14 matches. Their attacking unit, led by Dimitrios Petratos, Manvir Singh, Liston Colaco, Jamie Maclaren, and Jason Cummings has been one of the most relentless in the league.
With both teams eyeing important points, Bagan will be looking to maintain their unbeaten streak, while East Bengal will hope to break their arch-rivals’ stronghold and avoid another loss.
East Bengal will have to discover a way to break down the cohesiveness in Bagan’s passing patterns to not let them dictate the flow of the proceedings.
The red and gold brigade will miss the services of Anwar Ali, Mohammad Rakip and Prabhat Lakra. Anwar, the dependable defender, injured his right ankle during the 3-2 loss against Mumbai City.
East Bengal coach Oscar Bruzon, however, backed his players to perform well.
“We have to optimise the resources available to us. I have full confidence in the players who will take the field on Saturday,” he said.
Bagan coach Jose Molina played down their impressive track record against East
Bengal.
“What we did in the ISL so far doesn’t matter in tomorrow’s game. We need to perform well, defeat them in the 90 minutes on the pitch. We need to optimise our resources,” he said during Friday’s news conference at the Salt Lake Stadium.
Despite Mohun Bagan being in the pole position and 10 places above East Bengal, Molina refuses to believe that his side has any kind of advantage heading into the match.
“It won’t be easy for us to defeat East Bengal, it’ll be a very difficult match. We’ll have to work hard and we are going to need to give our best performance to beat them. We are ready to do that, and hopefully we can do it. But it will not be easy at all.
“We are going to play in Guwahati (Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium), so will miss our fans. Hopefully, some of them can be there to help us. It’s the most important match for them and we’ll try to do our best and make them happy.”
“We are at the top of the table and they are in 11th position and there might be a major difference of points. That is because of how both teams have played in the ISL so far. In my opinion, whatever we’ve done in the league so far doesn’t matter.
“The important thing is what we can do tomorrow (Saturday). If we can play our best, I am confident of three points,” Molina added.
East Bengal’s bane has been conceding late goals. In the last two matches, they let in goals at the death, and they cannot afford that against Bagan.
Before the two rivals face off, the city’s other force, Mohammedan Sporting face Bengaluru FC in Bengaluru. The visitors will have their task cut out.