The enterprising Sivasakthi Narayanan (right) could start ahead of skipper Sunil Chhetri for Bengaluru FC's away clash against East Bengal on Sunday.
DH FILE PHOTO
Bengaluru: Bengaluru FC take on East Bengal in a tough away assignment in the Indian Super League on Sunday.
After dropping points at home to Odisha FC last weekend, Bengaluru FC's hopes of sneaking into the playoffs suffered a blow as Chennaiyin FC usurped them to the final spot with a win over Jamshedpur FC on Thursday.
With two league fixtures left to play, the Blues need to pick up maximum points and hope that results favour them in their hunt for sixth place.
Carles Cuadrat-coached East Bengal, who are also in a five-team fight for the playoffs, shrugged off a run of three defeats with a resounding 4-2 win against Kerala Blasters and are brimming with confidence.
Cuadrat, who led Bengaluru FC to an ISL triumph in 2018-19, will hope that his star striker Cleiton Silva, another former Blue, can add to his seven league goals this season.
The in-form Naorem Mahesh Singh, fresh off scoring a brace against Kerala Blasters, and Spanish midfielder Saul Crespo are the other threats that Bengaluru need to be vary of.
BFC head coach Gerard Zaragoza, who was part of Cuadrat's backroom staff during that victorious season, will welcome back Aleksandar Jovanovic, Slavko Damjanovic and Suresh Singh Wangjam from suspensions. However, Chinglensana Singh is suspended for the tie.
Zaragoza will take heart from the promising displays of youngsters Shivaldo Singh, Lalremtluanga Fanai and Harsh Patre, who have shown that they can fill in ably. It will be interesting to see if the Spaniard persists with Sivasakthi Narayanan over Sunil Chhetri from the start.
Zaragoza and goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu both outlined the need to break the winless streak away from home in the pre-match press conference on Friday.
"The mood in the camp is positive. The players are ready, and are treating it like a playoff game. We need to control the small details at certain situations and not let leads slip," Zaragoza said.
"The plan (against East Bengal) is to attack and score goals while the defence keeps a clean sheet. We want to be proactive throughout," Zaragoza added.