Kerala boss Schattorie up against his former team

Blasters is on an eight-game winless streak with its last victory coming against ATK in the season opener. Kerala, with just seven points from nine games, is at a stage where it cannot afford to drop any more points. Eelco Schattorie’s team has been poor at home as well, despite enjoying strong fan support.

Since last season, KBFC has only 14 points from 14 home matches and the last three of them have finished in draws. It is coming off a demoralizing 1-3 defeat at the hands of rival Chennaiyin FC and Schattorie will be eager for a win over his former side. Thankfully, captain Bartholomew Ogbeche, who was NorthEast’s top scorer last season before following Schattorie to Kerala, is expected to feature on Saturday.

Though he has struggled to replicate his free-scoring form from the 2018-19 campaign, Ogbeche is still a potent force in attack. Blasters’ defence has not been performing any better. A lack of stability has resulted in it keeping just one clean sheet so far and that too came against a misfiring Odisha side.

Midfield also has looked pedestrian at times and the injury to Sergio Cidoncha has not helped matters. Sahal Abdul Samad, a creative outlet, has surprisingly been restricted to substitute appearances. Spaniard Mario Arques will have to shoulder the responsibility of keeping the midfield ticking. NorthEast has also floundered after making a good start. A winless run of four games has left it with 10 points from eight matches. Its attack has suffered in the absence of star striker Asamoah Gyan, who has been injured for a while. The team has scored the least amount of goals in the league so far (8) and has only a solitary goal to show from the last three games.

The return to fitness of Federico Gallego should help it create more chances in front of goal, should he feature in the game. Robert Jarni’s side also have its share of problems at the back. Individual errors have cost it dearly, especially because of the fact that it does not score enough goals.

NEUFC has conceded eight goals in the last four matches in comparison to just three in its first four clashes. The likes of Mislav Komorski and Nim Dorjee Tamang need to improve drastically while more consistency will be expected from young players like Redeem Tlang and Lalthathanga Khawlhring.