With Kerala City FC beating Odisha FC 4-1, the Kerala Blasters have been relegated to the sixth position. The Blazers have a chance to finish second with 26 points if they beat East Bengal by at least three goals today. The Hornets now have 23 points from 14 games. ATK Mohan Bagan is currently second with 26 points from 14 matches. Ivan Vukomanovic and his team were in a position where they could not enter the first four with less than one win.
East Bengal, on the other hand, are 10th with 10 points from 16 matches. East Bengal play-off chances are completely over. Therefore, East Bengal will try to pull off the Blasters.
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The defense will change drastically
The match against Kerala Blasters will be played today. Harmanjot Khabra and Marco Leskovic, the Blasters’ defensive backs so far this season, will not be available today. The duo, who received yellow cards during the match against Jamshedpur, have been banned for one match after completing a total of four yellow cards this season.
Ruiva Hormipam, who crashed into goalkeeper Prabhu Sukhan Singh Gill in the match against Jamshedpur and broke his bridge of the nose, will not be on the field. Hormi is likely to miss the upcoming matches as well. Nishu Kumar, who was injured during training before the match against Jamshedpur, had been training for the past few days. But Nishu will not be against East Bengal unless he regains full health. In short, there will be at least three changes to the Blasters’ defense, and if Nishu does not step down, Ivan Vukomanovich will line up the team in a 4 – 4 – 2 style with four changes.
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Perera Dias, K.P. Rahul
Argentine striker Jorge Pereira Dias, who was booked four times this season after being shown a yellow card against North East United, will return after his suspension from the match against Jamshedpur. With that, the Alvaro Vazquez-Diaz forward line will be active on the field again. K.P. Blasters fans are also watching to see if Rahul will be in the team today. Ivan Vukomanovich says all but Ruiva Hormipam are active in the team. Nishu Kumar and Rahul are training. However, Vukomanovic is adamant that he will not take the risk and push them back into injury.
Defender Bijoy Varghese, who was in the starting XI against ATK Mohan Bagan in the first match of the season, will return to the starting XI. Bijoy was also in the starting line-up against FC Goa. In defense, Sandeep Singh will be in the starting XI while Nishu Kumar and KP will be in the starting line-up. The possibility of including Rahul as a sub can not be ruled out.
Probability XI-Goalie: Prabhusukhan Singh Gill. Defense: Sanjeev Stalin, Bijoy Varghese, Ennes Sipovich, Sandeep Singh / Nishu Kumar / Maythei. Middle row: Sahal Abdul Samad, Putia, Jackson Singh, Adrian Luna. Forward column: Alvaro Vazquez, Jorge Pereira Diaz.