Season’s underdogs, Northeast will continue its winning run with an evening clash against struggling Chennai in Indian Football League 2020-21. Northeast would try to boost its place on the second spot.
Match Timings: Dec 13, 5 PM IST
Team Preview
Northeast are having a dream start to season 2020-21 with occupying the second spot. The Highlanders have notched up nine points with remaining unbeaten from the first four matches. In a previous meeting with Bengaluru, they settled for a hard-fought draw. The game started with a quick attack, and Northeast scored in just the 3rd minute through Rochharzela. Bengaluru didn’t wait much, and Juanan produced the equaliser in the 12th minute. The Highlanders came strong after this goal and troubled Bengaluru’s defense.
Gurpreet Singh Sandhu made an excellent save against Machado. The engaging first half ended in a 1-1 scoreline, and Ashique Kuruniyan continued his best form. In the 51st minute, Gurpreet denied a goal to Kwesi Appiah from point-blank range. Dimas almost found the winner, but he couldn’t cross the goalkeeper. Udanta and Sylla came as the substitutes for both clubs. In the 70th minute, Udanta Singh found his name on the scoresheet through a mistake from Dylan Fox. After 7 minutes, Luis Machado equalized for the Highlanders. Dimas won a free kick in the 83rd minute, but it crossed over from Sunil Chhetri, and the Blues lost the opportunity to take three points home. Highlanders created few mistakes in the last game. They gave a chance to Udanta in the second half and missed out the opportunity despite some errors from Gurpreet Sandhu.
Meanwhile, Chennai’s campaign is a disappointing story. After a 2-1 triumph in the opening game against the Red Miners, Chennai have played poor Football. The previous edition's finalist and two-times winner lost consecutive games to take the eighth spot in the table. In the previous match, they suffered a 2-1 loss to strong Mumbai. Chennai started the game high by creating early chances in the first half. Lallianzuala Chhangte delivered a good pass to Jakub Sylvestr, and he made no mistake to give Chennai the lead in the 40th minute. Mumbai didn’t wait, and Hernan Santana netted an equaliser in stoppage time before the half time break.
In the 70th minute, Csaba Laszlo’s men were denied a penalty, and Fondre added one more point in Chennai’s disappointment with the winning goal after five minutes. Chennai created several chances, but they dropped three points with one poor refereeing in the second half. Chennai and Northeast had previously faced each other 12 times, and Northeast have the most wins with six and three times, Chennai had the last laugh. The most recent encounter between the two was won by Chennai 2-0.
Possible Lineups & Current Form
NorthEast
Lineup: Subhashish Roy; Ashutosh Mehta, Lambot, Dylan Fox, Gurjinder; Lalengmawia, Khassa Camara, Lalrempuia; Meeitei, Kwesi Appiah, Gurmeet Singh
Current form – WD D W
Previous outing: 2-2 draw with Bengaluru
Chennai
Vishal Kaith; Reagan Singh, Eli Sabia, Enes Sipovic, Jerry Lalrinzuala; Anirudh Thapa, Deepak Tangri; Fatkhullo Fatkhuloev, Rafael Crivellaro, Lallianzuala Chhangte, Jakub Sylvestr
Current Form: L L D W
Previous outing: 2-1 defeat against Mumbai
Key Players
NorthEast
Kwesi Appiah
4 goals in League One 2019-20
2 goal in Indian Football League 2020-21
Idrissa Sylla
2 goals in Indian Football League 2020-21
Chennai
Lallianzuala Chhangte
7 goals in Indian Football League 2019-20
Isma Goncalves
1 goal in Indian Football League 2019-20
