Kolkata, Dec 26 (IANS): After two consecutive defeats Mohun Bagan Super Giant will be looking to get back to winning ways against the in-form Kerala Blasters, when the two sides meet for a crucial encounter here at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan Stadium in the Indian Super League (ISL) 2023-24 on Wednesday.
Mohun Bagan find themselves in a precarious position after nine games, having suffered consecutive defeats against their nearest competitors in the last couple of matches.
The streak began with a gruelling 2-1 defeat at the home of Mumbai City FC, before FC Goa had a strong outing against them, wrapping up a 4-1 victory in their own backyard. Juan Ferrando will need to go back to the drawing board to do a lot of searching as a spate of injuries and the absence of key players give him a truncated squad to work with.
Mohun Bagan have a chance to break the unwanted losing streak and get on top of the team that is placed just a place above them in the points table at the moment. They could not have come up against a better opposition to do so though, as their unbeaten record against Kerala Blasters FC is something that Ferrando would want to hold dear to after this game.
Kerala Blasters FC have lost five times and drawn once in their six matches against the Mariners in the ISL. In fact, the Kochi-based club are amongst the three teams including Odisha FC and East Bengal FC that are yet to defeat the Mariners in the ISL.
The quality of the Mohun Bagan squad is such that they manage to come out triumphant more often than not. Despite the spate of injuries in this campaign, they have scored 19 goals from an expected goals (xG) tally of 12.56 this season, with the Mariners’ xG differential of +6.44 being the highest of all teams in the competition. Ferrando will want for all that to come to the fore in this game.
Kerala Blasters FC, on the other hand, are on a roll after their clinical 2-0 win against Mumbai City FC even with the absence of captain Adrian Luna. They showed no signs of rustiness as the forwards stepped up and unleashed their impeccable potential with Dimitrios Diamantakos and Kwame Peprah scoring and setting a goal each, in addition to a brilliant defensive performance.
The clean sheets would come as a relief for Ivan Vukomanovic, as the team has not conceded a goal in their previous two matches and the last time they went on a longer stretch was of three games in December 2014.
Mohun Bagan aren't the ideal opposition to seal that feat though, as the home team has scored a goal in each of their last 10 matches in the top-tier. In fact, the depth of Ferrando’s squad allows him to introduce quality substitutes and that has resulted in them scoring 10 goals in the second half of matches this season.