Bengaluru face Jamshedpur challenge at home

Bengaluru: Defending champions Bengaluru FC are up against an ‘out-of-form Jamshedpur FC in an Indian Super League (ISL) clash at the Sree Kanteerava stadium here on Thursday.

Bengaluru are coming into this tie on the back of a confidence-boosting 2-1 win over FC Goa and will fancy their chances against a Jamshedpur side who are winless in five matches.

The Carles Cuadrat side, placed third on the table with 19 points from 11 matches, can consolidate their spot in the top four with a win on Thursday. Jamshedpur, meanwhile, cannot afford to lose. Given that they are sixth with 13 points from 10 matches, a loss will see them fall further behind in the race for the top-four spots.

Captain Sunil Chhetri, who was instrumental against Goa with two brilliant goals, will once again be the key man for Bengaluru. The Indian international has scored seven goals already this season and has been a saving grace for Bengaluru’s attack which has scored just 13 goals so far.

Cuadrat will be worried with the poor run of form his wingers Udanta Singh and Ashique Kuruniyan are going through but will hope new recruit Deshorn Brown is able to make an immediate impact.

“Sunil Chhetri is our top scorer but we are creating chances, but other players should also score. All the attacking players are working hard to score. I am sure they will help us during the next matches. We play in a good way and we create a lot of chances,” said Bengaluru goalkeeping coach Javier Pinillos.

Another factor going for Bengaluru is their water-tight defence which has shipped just seven goals this season. It will be a huge task for Jamshedpur FC, who are without their star striker Sergio Castel, to breach the Blues’ backline. IANS

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