Hyderabad FC and Bengaluru FC face off in the first match of a doubleheader on Saturday, November 4, at the GMC Balayogi Stadium in Hyderabad.
The hosts find themselves at the bottom of the points table and picked up their first points of the tournament in a scrappy 1-1 draw against Mumbai City FC last week.
Despite the Islanders going a man down early in the game, the Nizams weren't able to capitalize on it and went down 1-0 only to equalize through a Tiri own goal deep in stoppage time. Nevertheless, they'll hope that that goal gives them the momentum to pick up their first win of the season.
Bengaluru FC was last in action a few days back in a 3-2 defeat to Odisha FC, and a painful one at that. After going 2-0 up, they were pegged back 2-2 by the end of the first half before Naorem Roshan Singh got a red card early in the second half, with Amey Ranawade netting the winner a few minutes later.
BFC are in 10th place with one win and one draw in five matches and need to do better.
Squads to choose from
Hyderabad FC
Goalkeepers: Laxmikant Kattimani, Gurmeet Singh, Anuj Kumar, Aman Kumar Sahni.
Defenders: Vignesh Dakshinamurthy, Sajad Hussain, Akash Mishra, Chinglensana Singh, Nikhil Poojary, Nim Dorjee Tamang, Odei Onaindia, Alex Saji, Manoj Mohammad, Mohammaed Rafi-I.
Midfielders: Joao Victor, Petteri Pennanen, Joe Knowles, Hitesh Sharma, Mohammad Yasir, Sahil Tavora, Abdul Rabeeh-Anjukandan, Mark Zothanpuia, Ramhlunchhunga, Lalchhanhima Sailo.
Forwards: Felipe Amorim, Jonathan Moya, Makan Chote, Aaren D'Silva.
Bengaluru FC
Goalkeepers: Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Vikram Singh, Amrit Gope, Sahil Poonia.
Defenders: Jessel Carneiro, Naorem Roshan-Singh, Parag Satish Srivas, Aleksandar Jovanovic-II, Slavko Damjanovic, Namgyal Bhutia, Robin Yadav.
Midfielders: Ryan Williams, Shankar Sampingraj, Francisco Javi-Hernandez, Halicharan Narzary, Suresh Singh Wangjam, Keziah Veendorp, Lalremtluanga Fanai, Shreyas Ketkar, Rohit Kumar, Harsh Shailesh Patre, Monirul Molla, Ashish Jha, Ankith Padmanabhan.
Forwards: Sunil Chhetri, Rohit Danu, Sivasakthi Narayanan, and Curtis Main.
Hyderabad FC vs Bengaluru FC: Predicted Playing XIs
Hyderabad FC
Laxmikant Kattimani (GK), Nikhil Poojary, Chinglensana Singh, Nim Dorjee, Joao Victor, Vignesh Dakshinamurthy, Mohammad Yasir, Petteri Pennanen, Sahil Tavora, Joseph Knowles, and Aaren D'Silva.
Bengaluru FC
Gurpreet Singh Sandhu (GK), Namgyal Bhutia, Slavko Damjanovic, Aleksandar Jovanovic, Jessel Carneiro, Keziah Veendorp, Suresh Singh, Harsh Patre, Sunil Chhetri, Halicharan Narzary, and Ryan Williams.
Match Details
Match: Hyderabad FC vs Bengaluru FC
Date: November 4, 2023; 5:30 pm IST
Venue: GMC Balayogi Stadium, Hyderabad.
Hyderabad FC vs Bengaluru FC: Dream11 Fantasy Suggestions
Both teams are expected to make a few changes to their playing XI and that should create plenty of differential options in their midfield and forward ranks. Neither side has been playing as well as they'd like and this should be a pretty even contest.
Sunil Chhetri, Slavko Damjanovic, Ryan Williams, and Joseph Knowles look like the only must-haves for this match, with the likes of Mohammad Yasir, Halicharan Narzary, and Petteri Pennanen offering good differential potential.
Chhetri, Williams, and Knowles also look the best captaincy options.
Fantasy Suggestion #1: Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Namgyal Bhutia, Nikhil Poojary, Vignesh Dakshinamurthy, Ryan Williams, Mohammad Yasir, Keziah Veendorp, Joseph Knowles, Petteri Pennanen, Sunil Chhetri, and Aaren D'Silva.
Captain: Joseph Knowles. Vice-Captain: Ryan Williams.
Fantasy Suggestion #2: Gurmeet Singh, Aleksander Jovanovic, Slavko Damjanovic, Halicharan Narzary, Mohammad Yasir, Ryan Williams, Joao Victor, Joseph Knowles, Sunil Chhetri, and Aaren D'Silva.
Captain: Rafael Crivellaro. Vice-Captain: Joao Victor.