ISL 2017, Match 29: Bengaluru FC vs Jamshedpur FC, Probable XI
Bengaluru FC are ready to welcome the fellow debutants Jamshedpur FC in their fourth home game of ISL 2017 at Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru. This is the first time two debutant teams are taking on each other in ISL and both are coming into this game at the back of a defeat in their previous game.
Bengaluru FC lost their first home game last Sunday against the ISL 2 champions Chennaiyin FC, who dropped them to the 2nd place in the points table. They will surely look bounce back and reclaim the top spot from FC Goa. Bengaluru have scored 7 goals in their first three home games.
On the other side, Jamshedpur FC have conceded their first ISL goal against the Stallions while playing at home. They have found their first win in their last away game against Delhi and will look to continue the momentum in their 4th away game of the season. They have not conceded a single goal in their first 3 away games.
This is going to be a good contest between one of the best attacks and defence of ISL 2017. It will be interesting to see how Jamshedpur will plan to stop the high-flying Blues in front of their home fans.
Bengaluru FC
Bengaluru FC head coach Albert Roca seems to be quite disappointed after their first home defeat and will quickly look to get back to winning ways. The Spaniard is aware of Jamshedpur’s strong defence but also stated the need to stop their counter-attacks. Considering the opponents, this is going to be one of the most difficult encounters for the attack-heavy Blues.
Albert Roca rested some players in their previous encounter, which resulted in their first home defeat of ISL. We are expecting him to revert those changes and go all guns blazing in this game. We are expecting Juanan, Paartalu, Udanta to replace Nishu, Dimas and Dovale. He will look to continue his attack heavy formation of 4-3-3 to break the strong Jamshedpur defence.
Bengaluru FC Probable Starting XI: Gurpreet, Khabra, Juanan, Johnson, Bheke, Partaalu, Leeny, Gracia, Udanta, Miku, Chhetri.
Jamshedpur FC
Jamshedpur FC head coach Steve Coppell accepted the fact that despite being exceptional in defence, they will have to work hard to find the back of the net. They have managed to score just 1 goal in 5 games, which is the lowest by a team this season. However, he believes that injury to Anas is limiting their attacking strength as they are not able to play Belfort and Azuka at the same time.
With Anas unavailable for the game, we are not expecting any changes in the Jamshedpur starting XI. The Englishman is likely to continue his favoured formation of 4-2-3-1 with Azuka playing as a sole striker.
Jamshedpur FC Probable Starting XI: Paul, Souvik, Shouvik, Bikey, Tiri, Memo, Mehtab, Jairu, Siddharth, Trindade, Azuka.
Prediction
Bengaluru FC 1-0 Jamshedpur FC
Bengaluru will really have to work really hard to find the back of the net against the defensively strong Jamshedpur outfit. However, we are expecting them to take home all 3 points with help of a 2nd half winner.