Saturday night sees underperforming ATK play host to, at the time of writing, top of the league Bengaluru. Westwood only took charge last week and his side was looking a little better than before, however, something is still not right within the squad, and beating Bengaluru would really help with confidence. Bengaluru won’t want to lose an ‘easy’ game like this and will want to increase their lead at the top. I think we may be in for a one-sided goal fest. Anyway, let’s get into the stats.
The Stats…
ATK go into the game sitting 8th in the table and, at the time of writing, five points off 7th place and a whole ten points off 4th. They have the joint worst goal scoring record in the league, only scoring eight goals, however, they have an average defensive record, only conceding fifteen goals. It’s not a surprise to say they are coming into the game in terrible form, winning one and losing four of their last five. They have also failed to keep a clean sheet in their previous three games, and there have been less than 2.5 goals in six of their last eight games.
Bengaluru go into the game in top position, a single point above 2nd place. They have an incredible goal scoring record this season, shipping in twenty-three goals, and have only conceded fourteen goals. It’s not surprising to see that Bengaluru are heading into the game today on fantastic form, winning four and losing one in their previous five games. Bengaluru are coming into the game without a loss in their previous four games across all competitions.
Previous Encounter…
Their last meeting was at the start of January 2018. The game ended 1-0 to Bengaluru, thanks to a Sunil Chhetri goal on thirty-nine minutes. Interestingly, ATK dominated possession in this game, with 55% across the ninety minutes, however, it was Bengaluru who dominated the shots stats, having thirteen compared to ATK’s ten.
The teams do have different sides compared to the ones that started this game, however, both teams are still in similar form this time around, so Bengaluru will definitely be looking forward to the game.
The Game Itself…
Looking at the table, it shows how the game will be played out. Bengaluru should walk past this ATK side, as they have looked awful in recent times. Something is not right within the ATK camp, as the players they have, they should be competing with Bengaluru right now, not looking down the bottom of the league.
I expect Bengaluru to play their usual game, which is to not push anything and wait for a chance to appear. However, I expect ATK to dominate possession like they have all season. This hasn’t worked and hopefully, Westwood has identified this and made changes with training. Saying this, I just can’t see a situation where ATK pull off a massive upset. Sorry, Cotterill, we can still be friends, right?
Key Player…
This was a fairly easy choice this week. Although, I wanted to stay loyal to Bald Bale himself, as he is basically a God of football. I have chosen a Bengaluru player. Yes, I know, just take a breath, I know how shocking it is. I hear you asking, who? Is it Juanan? Is it Miku?
I have chosen, Bengaluru’s star player, Sunil Chhetri as my key player for the game. He is such a threat to any team in this league, and to poor teams like ATK, then he will definitely be adding to his season tally of eight goals. He also plays some fantastic build-up play with Miku and his other teammates.
Finally…
With all this being said, I will simply leave you with this. Bengaluru will blow ATK away and the scoreline could be embarrassing for ATK. I reckon we could be in for a three or four nil win. However, with me saying this Bald Bale will smash home a hattrick and show me up for not staying loyal. I said I was sorry!
