Time of reckoning for Bengaluru FC

Bengaluru: Back home from their well documented turbulent travels, Bengaluru FC will look to get their season back on course when they take on I-league newcomers Minerva Punjab FC at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium, on Saturday. It’s been a roller coaster season so far for the defending champions who have a 100 percent win record at home and just one from a possible nine points away. It’s that blip, small as it may seem currently, in the grand scheme of things, that has the Garden City club reeling at an unusual fifth spot, nine points off pace albeit with a game in hand.

With a campaign that’s more sprint than marathon, the Men in Blue can ill afford another setback if they are even hoping to challenge their exalted standards of previous years. While the JSW side are possibly going through the biggest crisis in their small but success-laden history, Minerva have had a less than ideal start, to put it delicately, to their first top division campaign.

The Punjab side have to be given leeway over the fact that they had almost no time to prepare ahead of the season and that they have, by and large, decided to stick with their own youngsters to make up the team. But to the credit, they have shown signs of life off late with four of their five points coming from their last two matches. And coming into this tie on the back of a victory over a free-falling Mumbai FC, the confidence will be as high as it has ever been this season.

Juanan, Johnson blow to BFC:

Meanwhile, compounding to BFC’s woes will be suspensions to their centre defensive pair of Juanan and John Johnson. With an already injury-ravaged backline that has looked suspect to lapses in concentration and individual errors, the onus will be on new boy Sandesh Jhingan and last match’s saviour Salaam Ranjan Singh to shore up the back.

Left back Kegan Pereira, following an inept performance in the previous match is likely to make way for Sena Ralte. Up against a team that has scored just three goals this season, at least on paper, it doesn’t look the hardest game for a defensive unit.

While it can be argued that BFC are struggling to find their identity as a team in possession and especially in transition in the light of Alvaro Rubio’s exit, they do remain a formidable attacking unit. Having scored in every match this season, the forward line - led by captain Sunil Chhetri - will back themselves to find the net against the league’s leakiest defence led by Kareem Nurain and Loveday Enyinnaya.

After a flurry of goals, CK Vineeth has gone slightly off the boil and will be keen to get back on the scoreboard. In midfield, the visitors’ Simranjit Singh and the unique-sounding Germanpreet Singh will have the task of monitoring the home side midfield trio of Eugeneson Lyngdoh, Cameron Watson and Lenny Rodrigues while Victor Amobi and Anirudh Thapa will be key to Minerva’s attacking strategy.