North East United vs Odisha FC- ISL Prediction for the match

Northeast united and Odisha FC are going to take on each other this Friday, 17th of February at 7.30 IST at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium situated in Guwahati, Assam. North East United coming from a 3-3 Draw against East Bengal FC whereas Odisha FC is pumped up with a 3-1 win against The current league runners-up Hyderabad FC.

Both the teams are not having the best season of their life. North East United is at the 11th and the last spot with just 1 win in 18 games rest 15 was lost and 2 were drawn. In their last five matchdays, they have lost 3 and drew 2 times. Whereas Odisha FC is at the 7th spot in the league with 8 games won in 18 and 7 losses along with 3 draws. In their last five matchdays, Odisha FC has 1 win, 2 losses and 2 draws. Comparing based on Goal difference Odisha FC has a GD of -2 while North East United has an upsetting GD of -32.

North East United has been seen struggling for consecutive seasons now, last year as well the club finished the season in the 10th spot. The reason may be that other fellow clubs are owned and backed by corporate houses which help them evolve while North East United is still a one-owner club owned by actor John Abraham which has eventually resulted in failing to attract investors. The club follows a short-term plan which is backed by the evidence of 12 coach changes in 8 seasons. In addition to that, they never retain their key players and staff for the long term. The club has been lacking in clear plans related to the transfer market, last minute signings and random coaches are what they go for. The financial status of the club is also not good because of which they had to let go of their fan favourite players like Federico Gallego and Luis Machado and Dashan Brown for free. This is normal in football culture but North East United never found a replacement for the key players,

Talking about Odisha FC, the club finished at the 7th spot last season as well, but they had achieved some major feats like defeating the ISL winners by a one-goal margin. In the current campaign, Odisha Fc has some of the top players to play in ISL like Narendra Gehlot and Carlos Delgado. In the transfer market, Odisha FC did some wonders by signing six foreign players with top quality. Carlos Delgado got a welcome back, the player played for Odisha Fc in the year 2019-20. The same year he had shown a remarkable performance by averaging 7 clearances and 2 tackles per game. Despite the losses and points dropped Josep Gombau’s men have shown quality and class on the field which is beneficial and important to play in the top tier.