I-League: Kerala look to dent East Bengal's title hopes

KOZHIKODE: After beating Mohun Bagan in Kolkata, debutants Gokulam Kerala FC will be looking to stage another major upset when they host title contenders East Bengal at the EMS Corporation Stadium here on Saturday.

Coming back from the win, that too in an away fixture, coach Bino George said: "We have five matches left, we will try our best to do well."

Meanwhile, it was the Kerala-outfit's second win on the road while the first one came against Indian Arrows, the youngest side of the league.

Bino George lauded their newly recruited Bahrainian midfielder Alajmi for his efforts of late.

"Alajmi was a replacement to Francis Ambane and he made the right impact on the team." George said. 

Meanwhile, East Bengal have got the better of league leaders Minerva Punjab FC in their last outing which opened up the title race wide open.

Bino George said that the Kolkata outfit will surely go out all guns blazing to garner a win.

"For East Bengal, winning this match is important for them, the same way it is more important for us to also win this particular match."

East Bengal coach Khalid Jamil, on the other hand, sees this match as a 'very vital one' as their opponents are coming from a hard-earned win.

"This match is a very vital one for us and they're playing very good football now. We have to be very cautious on the field and eventually, we need a win to stay alive in the title race," Jamil said.

Meanwhile, Jamil has his entire squad at his disposal and everyone is available for the selection. 

Jamil added he prefers taking one match at a time and he is only focusing on tomorrow's match now.

"We always prefer to take one match at a time and we won't deviate from our strategy tomorrow. We have to be strong and we need a positive result", Jamil said.