Bottom placed Hyderabad FC roll out the red carpet for Jamshedpur FC on Thursday for what will be their final home venture in Hero Indian Super League (Hero ISL) 2019-20 at the G.M.C. Balayogi Athletic Stadium in Hyderabad. Both sides are already out of the top four race, but will be playing for pride.

Hyderabad FC

The Hero ISL newcomers are enduring a torrid run this season, managing just a single win and three draws in their 16 outings so far. Consequently, they are rooted to the bottom of the table with just six points. They are currently staring at the prospect of breaking the unsavoury record of being the team with the least points tally at the end of the league phase, a record currently held by Chennaiyin FC, who managed just nine from 18 matches in the 2018-19 edition. Avoiding the dire record beside their name, especially in their debut campaign, will be a big motivation for the team as they try to get at least four points from their remaining two games to finish over nine points. Hyderabad FC are also currently on a 13-match winless streak and a draw or loss in the upcoming match will tie them with Kerala Blasters’ 14-match winless run in the 2018-19 season, which is currently the longest winless streak in a single season of the Hero ISL.

The team slumped to a 4-1 defeat to FC Goa in their last outing but one positive that came out of the game was Marcelo Pereira getting on the score sheet and ending his long goal drought. Hyderabad will be looking to the Brazilian to fire again and provide some inspiration to the side along with his countryman Bobo.

Defensively, Hyderabad have the worst record in the division having conceded 37 goals already this term and the likes of Adil Khan and Matthew Kilgallon will look to put in a solid shift against Jamshedpur on Thursday.

Jamshedpur FC

Since Tiri's injury, Jamshedpur have struggled defensively, having conceded 14 goals in their last five outings this season. Antonio Iriondo's men come into the match on the back of a 3-3 draw against NorthEast United FC, which will be particularly worrying considering they let in three goals against a team which failed to register themselves on the scoresheet in their last five matches.

Conceding goals both early and late in matches have been Jamshedpur's Achilles heel this term, with the team letting in as many as 13 goals in the opening and final 15 minutes of matches.

Sergio Castel's absence was a big detrimental for the side against NorthEast and it will be interesting to see whether the Spaniard returns to the starting line-up for Thursday's game. With Farukh Choudhary suspended for the tie, Jamshedpur may be left spread thin up top if the Spaniard fails to recover in time.

Probable line-ups:

Hyderabad FC: Laxmikant Kattimani (GK), Sahil Panwar, Matthew Kilgallon, Souvik Chakrabarti, Asish Rai, Adil Khan, Nikhil Poojary, Marko Stankovic, Nestor Jesus Benitez, Marcelo Pereira, Bobo

Jamshedpur FC: Rafique Ali (GK), Joyner Lourenco, Sandip Mandi, Memo Moura, Bikash Jairu, Aitor Monroy, Amarjit Singh, Noe Acosta, Aniket Jadhav, CK Vineeth, David Grande

Did you know?

• Hyderabad are 1 goal away from becoming the team with most goals conceded in a single season. Currently they are tied with Delhi Dynamos FC, who also conceded 37 goals in 2017-18 season.
• Jamshedpur FC are winless in their last 5 away matches.
• Hyderabad FC have scored 8 goals at home this season. (lowest in league)

Live Broadcast Schedule:

Hero ISL 2019-20 Match 81: Hyderabad FC vs Jamshedpur FC

Date: February 13 (Thursday)

Time: 7:30 PM onwards

Channels: Star Sports Network

Streaming: Hotstar and Jio TV