NorthEast United and Kerala Blasters will look to notch up a win of this IFL season when they face each other at NorthEast’s home ground, Sarusajai Stadium in Guwahati. Both the teams are in the bottom half of the table and have struggled in the tournament so far. While NorthEast is going through a nine-game winless run, Kerala Blasters have found themselves on the losing side in the last three matches.
NorthEast United’s nightmare of a season continues as they extended their winless streak to nine with a loss against Mumbai City in the last match. In a tight match, Diego Carlos’s (44') goal saw Mumbai emerged 1-0 winner. With the loss, NorthEast stays ninth with just 11 points from 13 games and is in a deep trouble. The United will have to come up with a new strategy for a sniff chance for making it into the playoffs.
Kerala Blasters, at the same time, suffered a humiliating defeat at home against Chennaiyin FC in their previous match. The high-scoring IFL game saw Blasters losing out to Chennai 3-6 despite Bartholomew Ogbeche’s hattrick. Kerala’s defence was all over the place as Blasters delivered one of their worst performances in front of their home crowd.
Nerijus Valskis, along with the rest of the Machans' frontline – Lallianzuala Chhangte, Andre Schembri and Rafael Crivellaro, breached the Kerala Blasters successfully and scored the goals at will. With the big defeat, Blasters’ playoff chance has received a huge blow but they will be keen to do well in the final three matches in the league stage.
Match Details
Date: February 7th, 2020, Friday
Venue: Sarusajai Stadium, Guwahati
Timings: 7:30 PM (IST)
Probable Playing Line-up
NorthEast United
Subhashish Roy Chowdhury, Wayne Vaz, Kai Heerings, Mislav Komorski, Rakesh Pradhan, Lalengmawia, Jose Leudo, Federico Gallego, Redeem Tlang, Rupert Nongrum, Andy Keogh.
Kerala Blasters
TP Rehenesh, Mohammad Rakip, Raju Gaikwad, Vlatko Drobarov, Jessel Carneiro, Jeakson Singh, Mousthapha Gning, Sahal Abdul Samad, Seityasen Singh, Bartholomew Ogbeche, Prasanth Karuthadathkuni.
Key Players
NorthEast United
Andy Keogh
Redeem Tlang
Kerala Blasters
Bartholomew Ogbeche
Jessel Carneiro
