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MATCH INFORMATION
ATK 1-0 FC Pune City
KICK-OFF: Nov 10, 7.30PM (IST) (GMT +5.30)
Channel: Star Sports HD1, Star Sports 1, Star Sports 3.
Streaming: Hotstar, Jio TV.
Highlights: Click Here
Venue: Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata.
MATCH PREVIEW
ATK will look to go one up on the table when they host bottom-table dwellers FC Pune City at the Salt Lake Stadium. Kalu Uche’s injury and subsequent substitution turned the tide in Bengaluru FC’s favour in their previous game which ended in a defeat. The Nigerian international is expected to be out for six weeks with a grade 3 tear in his quadriceps muscles and has flown back to Barcelona for treatment.
The Kolkata side’s defence with John Johnson at the heart of it looks fairly solid, although the former Bengaluru FC player has been let down by his teammates a few times. The midfield is fairly competent in Lanzarote, Noussair Maimouni and the exciting Indian U17 World Cup player from last year, Komal Thatal.
The issue lies in attack; they are tied with Pune City for the lowest number of goals (6) and that is now compounded with the injury to Kalu Uche. Balwant Singh has not exactly set the world alight this season. The veteran striker has a solitary goal from six games. Everton Santos, the Brazilian forward is yet to score a goal this season. The head-to-head record is not in ATK’s favour with one win in eight matches.
In their last game, FC Pune City helped defending champions Chennaiyin bring relevance to their campaign by allowing them to win 4-2. Pune City were leading 1-0 going into halftime until it fell apart in the second half. For today’s game, Marcelinho is suspended for this game after making a dangerous tackle in the game against Chennai; Diego Carlos is serving a suspension as well for dangerous play. The midfielder Marko Stankovic is to yet to recover from an injury and interim coach Pradhyum Reddy will have to rely on Emiliano Alfaro who is having a poor season.
The weakened frontline of ATK takes on a Pune City defence who have conceded 15 goals in six games (the leakiest defence in the season so far). The Pune City attack without Marcelinho and Diego Carlos will however have to contend with John Johnson and Co. It will be a big challenge for Robin Singh, Ashique Kuruniyan and Emiliano Alfaro to turn this in their favour.
That gives a slight edge in this game to ATK – if they can score a goal, they should get the three points. If they don’t, it might very well play out into an insipid draw.
STARTING XI
MATCH STATS
FULL-TIME: ATK 1-0 FC Pune City
84′ – SUB (Pune City: Adil Khan [IN] Martin Diaz [OUT]
82′ – GOAL! 1-0 (Gerson, Header, Assist: J. Rane, ATK)
82′ – SUB (ATK: Hitesh Sharma [IN] Balwant Singh [OUT])
75′ – SUB (ATK: Jayesh Rane [IN] Komal Thatal [OUT])
75′ – YELLOW CARD (Martin Diaz, Pune City)
74′ – SUB (ATK: Ankit Mukherjee [IN] A. Khongjee [OUT])
71′ – YELLOW CARD (Sahil Panwar, Pune City)
64′ – SUB (Pune City: Ashutosh Mehta [IN] Sartak Golui [OUT])
53′ – SUB (Pune City: Abhishek Halder [IN] Alwyn George [OUT])
33′ – YELLOW CARD (Jonathan Vila, Pune City)
25′ – YELLOW CARD (Ashique Kuruniyan, Pune City)
MATCH REPORT
An excerpt from the match preview is exactly how the game panned out.
That gives a slight edge in this game to ATK – if they can score a goal, they should get the three points. If they don’t, it might very well play out into an insipid draw.
Pune City tried to bog down ATK into a draw, but the Kolkata side’s persistence eventually paid off.
The forward Emiliano Alfaro was not fit for this game. With four foreign players out due to injuries and suspensions, Pune City had only three foreign players on the pitch.
ATK stared brightly getting a few shots on target early on in the first half. Lanzarote got close with a free kick that beat the keeper, but hit the post.
The lone goal which got ATK the three points came in the 82nd minute. Lanzarote made a darting run into the box and back-passed the ball to Jayesh Rana. The winger from Mumbai crossed it in to Gerson Viera who applied a ‘fade away’ style glancing header. A great goal and a single talking point in an unremarkable game.
Pune City did little to put up a fight in the remaining few minutes as they slumped to their fifth defeat in seven games. Without a win so far in the season to reminiscence about, their season has reached its nadir.
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