ISL 2020-21, SCEB vs HFC Live Football Score: SC East Bengal faces in-form Hyderabad FC

Welcome to Sportstar's ISL 2020-21 live blog of the SC East Bengal vs Hyderabad FC match being played at the Tilak Maidan on Friday.

6:20pm: Podcast - The latest episode of 'The Full Time Show' features the Robbie Fowler interview with our reporters Shyam Vasudevan and Amitabha Das Sharma. We also take a deep dive into his controversy-courting maiden ISL coaching sojourn and his season with SC East Bengal.

6pm: Here's how we think the two sides will line-up today -

SC East Bengal predicted XI (3-4-3)

Subrata Paul; Daniel Fox, Sarthak Golui, Raju Gaikwad; Ankit Mukherjee, Matti Steinmann, Sourav Das, Narayan Das; Anthony Pilkington, Jacques Maghoma, Bright Enobakhare.

Hyderabad FC predicted XI (4-4-2)

Laxmikant Kattimani; Chinglensana Singh, Odei Onaindia, Akash Mishra, Asish Rai; Halicharan Narzary, Mohammed Yasir, Joao Victor, Lluis Sastre; Aridane Santana, Fran Sandaza.

MATCH PREVIEW:

It's all or nothing for SC East Bengal. After a poor start to its maiden Indian Super League (ISL 2020-21) campaign, the Kolkata club has an outside chance of qualifying for the playoffs but it needs to win all of its remaining matches to be in contention. It's next challenge is against an in-form Hyderabad FC, which is unbeaten in eight games.

The Nizams have enjoyed a terrific season that sees them placed fourth on the table, level on points with third-placed FC Goa and fifth-placed NorthEast United FC.

SC East Bengal has a gargantuan task ahead. After Firday's game, it will take on ATK Mohun Bagan, NorthEast and Odisha FC in its last three games.

However, assistant coach Tony Grant feels the clash against Hyderabad may be the toughest one yet. “I rate them really highly, more highly than I rate most of the clubs. They have recruited over the last two years really well and they have developed some really good, young players. It’s going to be a tough game,” he said.

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He added, “When the first time we played, we gave them a helping hand, they scored two goals in seconds. It wasn’t great play by them, it was more poor play by us why they scored. But they are going to give us a good challenge. They have got a lot of young players and they are a few points ahead of us, so they have got more to hold on to.”

Hyderabad FC coach Manolo Marquez, who recently signed a two-year contract extension, is eager to seal the win and enhance his side's chances of remaining in the top-four.

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“It's a very tough game because you know that they started the season late because they were the last team to join the ISL. I remember after five or six games, they had only one or two points. They changed a lot of players and now they have very good foreigners. They have signed one of the best players in this league, Bright (Enobakhare),” he said.

“(If) we win all the games, we will be in the top four. The end is close. We need to take it game by game and win points,” he added.

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Follow Sportstar's full coverage (Latest news, Interviews, Features, Points table, Quiz, Videos) of ISL 2020-21.

The seventh edition of the Indian Super League got underway inside a bio-bubble in Goa on November 20.

ISL 2020: Points Table

The tournament, spanning over four months, will see 11 teams play each other in a league and playoff format across three venues. Following the inclusion of SC East Bengal, this season will feature 115 games, up from 95 last season.