MUMBAI Mumbai. Kerala Blasters FC will be aiming for their maiden league double against East Bengal FC in an Indian Super League match here on Thursday, desperate to break their goal-less run. Kerala Blasters FC are currently eighth in the table with 21 points from 17 matches, while East Bengal FC are placed 11th with 14 points from 16 matches, including four wins and two draws. East Bengal are coming into this game on the back of a three-match losing streak, their longest such run in a single season having been six consecutive defeats earlier in this campaign. A fourth consecutive defeat will bring them level with NorthEast United FC as the only team to record multiple losing streaks of four or more games in the same ISL season. Meanwhile, Kerala Blasters snapped their four-game losing streak with a 1-0 win against Punjab FC on January 5, 2025.
They will try to achieve two consecutive wins for the first time since December 2023. The team has shown remarkable improvement under the leadership of interim head coach TG Purushothaman. Their goals average per game has dropped from 2.0 to 0.6 under Michael Stehre, and Kerala Blasters under Purushothaman have allowed their opponents to register an expected goals (xG) value of more than one in any five games. Not given. They have converted four of their five big chances in this time period, and this 80% strike rate is significantly higher than the 52.4% conversion they have recorded on this front under Stehre's watch. Kerala Blasters have won three times and drawn once in their last five matches. He has scored 26 times in 17 games, with Jesus Jimenez and Noah Saadaoui netting 10 and seven goals respectively.
East Bengal FC, on the other hand, have scored the third-fewest goals (16) in the competition as the trio of David Lalhlansanga, Dimitrios Diamantakos and Vishnu Puthiya have found the net three times each.
Both teams have kept four clean sheets so far. The Kochi-based team is three points behind sixth-placed Odisha FC (24). They will hope to keep their hopes of a top six finish alive with a win here, while East Bengal will look to regain some of the lost momentum to spark their ambitions for the rest of the campaign.
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