Today East Bengal will look to revive their sagging morale with the return of their three key players when they take on JCT in a Round 18 return-leg fixture of the I-League at Yuba Bharati Krirangan. Having suffered two losses and a draw in their recent outings, East Bengal's campaign in the league has been derailed but coach Trevor James Morgan will be at ease with the trio of Mehtab Hussain, Orji Penn and Uga Okpara making a comeback.
Even as their midfield and defence will get a boost after the return of the trio, Morgan will have a tough time mobilising their strike force that has been weakened after the absence of Australian Tolgay Ozbey and Delhi lad Robin Singh. Their leading striker Ozbey, having picked an ankle injury during their AFC Cup match, has been ruled out for about a week while the mercurial Singh is with the Indian squad for the pre-Olympic qualifiers in Myanmar.
It will be interesting to see how Morgan motivates Baljit Singh Sahni and Biswarup Deb as he will look to use Penn as a a withdrawn striker. Languishing at the 11th place with 14 points from 16 matches, JCT, on the other hand, have no such concerns as the Nigerian forward Daniel Bedemi alongwith Badru Ibrahim will look to give them the full points. Eight points shy of leaders Salgaocar, third-placed East Bengal have 32 points from 16 matches.
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