East Bengal would look to notch a hat-trick of wins and keep their hopes of securing a play-offs berth alive in the Indian Super League when they face Punjab FC in their final round match here on Wednesday.
The Carles Cuadrat-coached Red and Gold Brigade comes into the match with wins over Kerala Blasters and Bengaluru FC.
With 24 points from 21 matches, a win on Wednesday will keep East Bengal in the reckoning for the play-offs but they are in a disadvantageous position as compared to Chennaiyin FC and NorthEast United, who have 24 and 23 points respectively with each of them having one more match in hand than the Kolkata side.
The match at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium will be played behind closed doors following a fire incident on March 13 in the stadium’s CCTV room, which left a man dead due to suffocation.
There is just one spot left for the play-offs with five teams having already made the cut. East Bengal, Chennaiyin FC and NorthEast United will be making an all-out effort for the lone remaining spot.
The top two teams at the end of the league stage will automatically qualify for the semi-finals. Teams finishing between third and sixth will feature in a single-leg playoffs to determine the other two semi-finalists.
For Punjab FC, who played for the first time in the ISL with the JLN Stadium as their home venue, things have taken a turn for the worse as they have 21 points from as many games this season.
At one point, they had a definite chance of sealing a spot in the top six. However, dropping 11 points from a possible 15 in their previous five matches derailed their charge to the play-offs completely.
Punjab FC came back strongly to get some crucial results under their belt in the second half of the current campaign. However, having not kept a clean sheet in their last three games, a failure to do so in this match will result in their longest ever such run in the competition.
In the frontline, Punjab FC have relied primarily on their attacking trio of Wilmar Jordan Gil, Luka Majcen, and Madih Talal.
Being the first-ever promoted team in league history, Punjab FC have a chance to make an impact by spoiling the play-offs qualifications prospects of East Bengal FC.
The previous fixture between the two sides had resulted in a goalless draw in December.
East Bengal have found the back of the net multiple times in each of their last two matches. Doing so again in this game will make it their longest such streak in the ISL.
The Kolkata side will look up to Naorem Mahesh Singh to deliver the goods and the India forward has scored four goals and assisted twice in 20 league appearances this season.
Dimitris Chatziisaias will be the key man for Punjab FC. The Greek central defender has helped them keep five clean sheets in the 19 appearances he has made for them in the current campaign.
