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With leaders Churchill Brothers dropping points against their Goan rivals Dempo, the race for the I-League crown has been blown wide open with East Bengal and Pune FC heaving a huge sigh of relief. Despite the fact that on-loan striker Sunil Chettri scored a brace, it was not enough for the hosts to snatch all three points and take a comfortable lead in the title race. Given the current scenario, with three more games to go, the leaders are five points ahead of the second-placed East Bengal, while Pune FC are separated from the league leaders by eight points with a game in hand.
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It might look easy for the leaders to sail past its rivals, but with the kind of matches coming up for these teams, the I-League might head towards a “Bollywood-style” finish. Let us now analyze the kind of opponents that each of the three possible contenders have to face.
1. Churchill Brothers
Mohun Bagan 21/04 (Away) and 07/05 (Home): This is going to be a strong challenge for Churchill Brothers to overcome. Currently, Mohun Bagan is in a very good form and haven’t lost a game since 20th Jan – when they lost against Salgaocar. Furthermore, the strike partnership of Odafa and Tolgay has finally started firing all cylinders and if they continue with their current red hot form, Churchill can be blown away and so will their title hopes.
Air India FC 12/05 (Away): This is going to be a relatively easier fixture for the title aspirants as relegation-threatened Air India has little to no chance of causing an upset. However, if Air India somehow manages to snatch a point from this game, Churchill will have to depend upon the results of the other games.
Churchill also has to cope with AFC cup fixtures sandwiched between these games, where it still has a slender chance of qualifying for the knockout phase.
2. East Bengal
Dempo FC 04/05 (Away): This is going to be a big hurdle in East Bengal’s path to glory. Even though Dempo is not in the best of form this season, the Goan outfit are a really tough nut to crack in their own backyard, and there is little margin for error for the challengers as any drop of points would mean conceding the title to the leaders. However, already having beaten Dempo in their home game can act as a morale-booster for East Bengal.
United Sikkim FC 08/05 (Home) and Shillong Lajong FC 12/05 (Home): These two are easy fixtures for them and winning against these minnows in front of their home crowd won’t be that difficult.
But first, East Bengal will also have to deal with the AFC Cup, where it has a very strong chance of making it to the knockouts as group leaders. They also have to depend heavily on their cross-city rivals Mohun Bagan to do them a favour.
3. Pune FC
Air India FC 20/04 (Away) and 28/04 (Home): Pune FC is expected to win both the legs against struggling Air India and that will make their claim for the title stronger.
Mohun Bagan AC 24/04 (Away): Beating Mohun Bagan in their current form and in front of a charged up Kolkata crowd is next to impossible and the best that Pune FC can expect from this fixture is to get a draw to keep their chances intact.
Pailan Arrows 11/05 (Home): Again an easy game, but they have to show their real attacking prowess to get a win.
Predicted final standings
1) Churchill: L D W (52 Points)
2) East Bengal: D W W (50 Points)
3) Pune FC: W L W W (49 Points)
