Striker – Willis Plaza
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Willis Plaza will be the target man for the Red and Gold brigade up front, and he will be looking to strike a good understanding with Wedson. The Trinidad and Tobago forward has scored a lot of goals in his native land, and Morgan will be hoping he can continue his rich vein of form in India as well.
In Nikhil Poojary and Thongkhosiem Haokip, they also have excellent young alternatives in case Plaza hits a bad patch or gets injured. Indeed, either Haokip or Nikhil will start the match against Aizawl FC, since Plaza is yet to prove his match fitness.
Full squad
Goalkeepers: Rehenesh TP, Subhasish Roy Chowdhury, Abhilash Paul, Dibyendu Sarkar, Luis Barreto
Defenders: Ivan Bukenya, Arnab Mandal, Gurwinder Singh, Anwar Ali, Koushik Sarkar, Robin Gurung, Samad Ali Mallick, Rahul Bheke, Narayan Das, Deepak Kumar, Robert Lalthlamuana
Midfielders: Prohlad Roy, Mehtab Hossain, Rowllin Borges, Romeo Fernandes, David Lalrinmuana, Jackichand Singh, Abhinas Ruidas, Mohammed Rafique, Cavin Lobo, Bikash Jairu
Forwards: Wedson Anselme, Nikhil Poojary, Thongkhosiem Haokip, Willis Plaza, VP Suhair.
Areas of concern and expectations
East Bengal have an exceptionally strong squad on paper, but the squad has barely trained together, so team chemistry might be a big issue. Moreover, few of their key players are carrying niggles from the ISL, and this might turn out to be a huge problem in the 2nd half of the season, just like it was in the last campaign.
Overall, anything short of a title win will be deemed as a failure by both the manager and the fans.
East Bengal kick off their I-League campaign against Aizawl FC on 7th January at the Barasat Stadium at 4:30 pm. Follow the game LIVE, here.
