East Bengal Secure Their First Victory of the Season vs. In-Form NorthEast United

Bottom-placed East Bengal FC will be looking to secure their first win of the season as they face NorthEast United FC in their eighth match of the Indian Super League (ISL) season. Despite a string of losses, East Bengal managed to secure a goalless draw against Mohammedan Sporting in the Kolkata Derby. Now, they are eager to build on that result and claim a victory in front of their home crowd at the Yuba Bharati Krirangan. NorthEast United FC, on the other hand, has been in impressive form this season, currently sitting at third place with 15 points from nine games. With four wins and three draws under their belt, the Highlanders will be a tough challenge for East Bengal. It will be an exciting clash as both teams look to secure crucial points in the ISL standings.

They have scored 21 goals, conceding only 15, and have lost merely once in their previous five matches. They trail the top-placed Bengaluru FC (20) by five points -- a gap they will be confident of bridging, given how they have been managing to put the pieces of their jigsaw together of late.

The two sides have faced each other eight times, with NorthEast United and East Bengal FC emerging victorious in four and two matches respectively. A couple of fixtures have resulted in a draw.

NorthEast United have been on an unbelievable run recently, winning thrice and drawing once in their previous four encounters. Avoiding a defeat in Friday's clash will make it their longest-ever unbeaten sequence since going 11 matches without a loss from January-March 2021.

East Bengal FC head coach Oscar Bruzon acknowledged that NorthEast United will play on the frontfoot in this fixture, but assured that the home team has done its homework properly.

"I don't think NorthEast United FC is going to come here to neutralise our attacking power, but they are coming to try and score more goals themselves," Burzon said.

"That's what I know from what they have been doing in the last games with their frontline. We will try to play our best game, and win the match," he added.

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NorthEast United head coach Juan Pedro Benali mentioned that maintaining a fine balance between their offensive instincts and defensive discipline will be critical in this match.

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"Each game is a different story. We need to make big chances to score and at the same time make it equally difficult for them to do so. That's our objective, because we know we can score and that's a very important part (of our gameplay)," Benali said. PTI PDS AM PDS AM AM

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)