With top-2 finish in mind, Jamshedpur FC look to prevail over NorthEast United in ISL

Jamshedpur: Jamshedpur FC will look to bounce back from their away loss to Bengaluru FC and remain in contention for the top-2 place finish when they host NorthEast United in their Indian Super League (ISL) match here on Thursday.

Jamshedpur have 34 points from 19 games on the back of 11 wins and a draw to be at the third spot in the standings. Their aim will be to stay in contention for the second spot which FC Goa occupy currently with 36 points.

The top-2 finishers do have to compete in the single-leg eliminator since they directly qualify for the semi-finals.

NorthEast United, on the other hand, are at sixth spot with 29 points and they have competition from Odisha FC (26), Kerala Blasters FC (24), and Punjab FC (24) who are closely following them. The Highlanders have drawn thrice and won once in their previous five matches.

Earlier this season, the Highlanders had claimed a thumping 5-0 victory against the Red Miners in Guwahati. Another triumph would make Jamshedpur FC the seventh opponent against whom the visitors complete a league double in the competition.

Jamshedpur, however, have not faced losses in any of their five home fixtures against NorthEast United, drawing thrice in the process. Notably, the Highlanders are the only side against whom Jamshedpur have kept multiple home clean sheets (three) in the competition.

Jamshedpur FC have been on an encouraging run at home in the current campaign, emerging victorious in eight of their 10 games.

The Highlanders are unbeaten in their previous four games on the road, and the last time they registered such a longer stretch was for five encounters between October-December 2018.

Jamshedpur FC head coach Khalid Jamil is not reading too much into the reverse fixture.

"In our last match against them, we didn't get a good result. We need to approach this match positively and work hard," he said.

NorthEast United FC head coach Juan Pedro Benali has a straightforward mindset ahead of the coming match, which is to earn three points.

"Jamshedpur FC are a very dangerous team. Any mistake against them can lead to a goal. We need to win as many points as possible and qualify for the playoffs," Benali said in the pre-match press conference.

The two sides have played each other 15 times in the ISL, with Jamshedpur FC winning six games and NorthEast United FC emerging victorious thrice. Six matches have produced draws.