With just one point from their opening two games, Kerala Blasters will aim to bag their first victory in Indian Super League Season 7 as they take on their southern rivals Chennaiyin FC at the GMC Stadium, Goa on Sunday. (More Football News)
After winning their opener against Jamshedpur FC, Csaba Laszlo's side will once again bank on Rafael Crivellaro and Anirudh Thapa to provide the creativity in midfield. The onus will be on forward Esmael Goncalves to spearhead their attack.
"We know our opponent well," said Laszlo. "We have to try to control the game. Kerala has a good team, their coach (Kibu Vicuna) is spending his second year in India and he knows Indian football well. He's new and so is the team. Generally, the most important (thing) is the reaction from the team and their desire. This is a derby game, not just another game."
"We will continue what we began – to enjoy ourselves, our football and our style and work on that. Hopefully, we can win and collect the three points."
In contrast, Kerala have struggled to create chances despite dominating possession against their opponents in the first two matches. Apart from his attack, Vicuna will expect his team's defense to improve.
Kerala Blasters have conceded all their three goals in the second half so far and dropped points from promising positions during games. Sergio Cidoncha's presence will once again be key for them in midfield with doubts over Sahal Abdul Samad returning straight to the playing eleven.
"It's true, we had more possession of the ball than (both our) opponents but what we want to do is create more chances," Vicuna said. "We were talking about the games, the general situations, what we have to do to improve and we have to move forward. We have just a point but we did a lot of good things. We have our own style and a concrete plan. We have had to improve in both areas – offensive and defensive and we are in the process. Tomorrow's going to be a tough challenge."
All you need to know about the Chennaiyin FC Vs Kerala Blasters match:
Match: 11th match of ISL 2020-21 between Chennaiyin FC and Kerala Blasters
Date: November 29 (Sunday), 2020.
Time: 7:30 PM IST
Venue: GMC Stadium, Bambolim, Goa.
TV Listing: Star Sports 1/HD, Star Sports 2/HD (English); Star Sports Hindi 1/HD, Star Sports 3, Star Gold 2 (Hindi), Asianet Plus, Asianet Movies (Malayalam); Star Sports Bangla; Star Sports Kannada; Star Sports Tamil; Star Sports Telugu and Star Sports Marathi.
Live Streaming: Online streaming will be available on Disney+ Hotstar VIP and JioTV.
All ISL 2020-21 matches will be shown live and can be streamed live in 82 territories across the world. Check world wide coverage details HERE.
Head-to-head: This will be their 15th meeting in the ISL, with Chennaiyin leading the head-to-head record 6-3. Last season, Chennaiyin completed a league double.
Likely XIs
Chennaiyin FC: Vishal Kaith; Reagan Keisham, Eli Sabia, Enes Sipovic, Jerry Lalrinzuala; Anirudh Thapa, Deepak Tangri, Rafael Crivellaro, Lallianzuala Chhangte; Esmael Goncalves, Jakub Sylvestr.
Kerala Blasters: Abino Gomes; Nishu Kumar, Costa Nhamoinesu, Bakary Kone, Jessel Carneiro; Vicente Gomez, Rohit Kumar, Sergio Cidoncha; Seityasen Irom, Gary Hooper, Lalthathanga Khawlhring.
Squads
Chennaiyin FC: Goalkeepers - Karanjit Singh, Vishal Kaith, Revanth BY, Samik Mitra; Defenders - Eli Sabia, Jerry Lalrinzuala, Enes Sipovic, Lalchhuanmawia Fanai, Reagan Keisham, Deepak Tangri, Aqib Nawab, Remi Aimol, Ganesan Balaji; Midfielders - Anirudh Thapa, Lallianzuala Chhangte, Rafael Crivellaro, Memo Moura, Fatkhullo Fatkhuloev, Edwin Vanspaul, Thoi Khangebam, Dhanpal Ganesh, Germanpreet Singh, Abhijit Sarkar, Srinivasan Pandiyan, Aman Chetri; Forwards - Esmael Goncalves, Jakub Sylvestr, Rahim Ali.
Head coach - Csaba Laszlo (Romanian–Hungarian)
Kerala Blasters: Goalkeepers - Albino Gomes, Bilal Khan, Prabhsukhan Singh Gill, Muheet Khan; Defenders - Costa Nhamoinesu, Nishu Kumar, Bakary Kone, Jessel Carneiro, Sandeep Singh, Abdul Hakku, Lalruatthara; Midfielders - Sergio Cidoncha, Sahal Abdul Samad, Vicente Gomez, Seityasen Irom, Rahul KP, Givson Moirangthem, Lalthathanga Khawlhring, Yendrembam Denechandra, Nongdamba Naorem, Arjun Jayaraj, Ayush Adhikari, Jeakson Thounaojam, Prasanth Karuthadathkuni, Ritwik Das, Rohit Kumar; Forwards - Gary Hooper, Jordan Murray, Facundo Pereyra, Naorem Mahesh, Shaiborlang Kharpan.
Head coach - Kibu Vicuna (Spain)
