The first Super Sunday of 2021 will see a compact ATK Mohun Bagan FC lock horns against Northeast United FC at the Fatorda in the second game of today’s double header.
ATK Mohun Bagan FC:
The Mariners come into this tie following a goalless draw at the GMC Bambolim Stadium against their southern rivals Chennaiyin FC. The Kolkata giants have been too good this season in all the areas. Antonio Lopez Habas’s team have the best defensive record in the league as they have just let in 3 goals and all of them coming from set pieces which means they are yet to concede from open play.
What might be a point of concern for the newly merged entity is their attacking prowess which has only scored a total of 8 goals in 8 games. Well, the good news is that ATK Mohun Bagan FC will have a fully fit squad except for Michael Soosairaj & Jobby Justin against the Highlanders and will surely be on their front foot.
Antonio Lopez Habas addressed the media ahead of his side’s clash against their Eastern rivals and said, “I have to analyse the performance of the whole team and not just Roy Krishna in the last matches. The team’s behaviour and performance is 100 per cent. Roy Krishna can score goals but more important is their attitude and overall performance. I would have been worried if didn’t create chances to score but in football, you can do something in one situation and cannot do that in another. In football, all situations are different during the 90 minutes,”
Northeast United FC:
The Highlanders are winless in their last 4 outings and are desperate to kick off 2021 on a high. The Guwahati based side started their campaign in a tremendous manner but it seems they have kind of lost their way and are keen to get back on track. The Highlanders have played a total 5 draws – most by any team, and this shows that they need to work on their finishing skills.
Their defensive stalwarts will need to be at their best when they face ATK Mohun Bagan to make sure they don’t give away too opportunities to their deadly attacking prowess. Idrissa Sylla and Luis Machado will have a key role to play in order to penetrate a solid defensive unit. Gerard Nus’s men will have to do everything they can to rediscover their solid form.
“We are a well organised team. We are a team that fight for every single ball and that’s something we have seen in the first game and also in the last one. In the last game we were capable of achieving a record so far in this season which was getting 18 attempts and that’s obviously something we have to be proud of. No team in the ISL achieved that so far. All what we want to do is basically in the offensive part of the game to be consistently creating those amount of chances, on keeping our structure, our organization, our intensity defensively because we believe that if we do both things, we definitely gonna get what be deserve and is basically to be competitive and to get more points.” said the Spanish tactician ahead of his team’s first clash of 2021.
Battles to watch out for:
Dylan Fox vs David Williams:
Two former teammates meet each other for the first time here in the Indian Top flight and Dylan Fox will need to be on his toes against David Williams. It will be an intense battle of two Australians and let’s who comes out on top.
Sandesh Jhingan vs Idrissa Sylla:
The Indian international has made a tremendous comeback from injury and as has hit the ground running. Sandesh Jhingan will have yeh responsibility to look after the movements from the Guinean international Idrissa Sylla to assure his side a clean sheet.
Probable Starting XI:
ATK Mohun Bagan:
Arindam, Jhingan, Tiri, Pritam, McHugh, Pranay, Javi, Subhasish, Manvir, Krishna, Williams.
NorthEast United FC:
Gurmeet, Gurjinder, Fox, Lambot, Ashutosh, Camara, Lalengmawia, Machado, Gallego, Suhair, Sylla.