NorthEast United FC square off against Kerala Blasters FC in the Hero Indian Super League (Hero ISL) 2019-20 at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium in Guwahati on Friday. The Highlanders come into the fixture having lost their last four matches on the trot and will be desperate to curb the worrying trend.

At the pre-match press conference, NorthEast head coach Robert Jarni said, “In the last few training sessions, the players did a fantastic job. We are expecting a good game. Our opponents were also defeated in the last match. They will also want to win but we would like to win more than them. Our players’ inspiration will show when they take on Kerala.”

The Croatian also addressed NorthEast’s dire run of results of late and stated, “We had a lot of ups and downs. We played excellent in the first half of the season. We were unlucky in the matches when we lost in the last seconds. After that, Asamoah (Gyan) got injured and we had a lot of problems with strikers. Maxi (Maximiliano Barreiro) and Pana (Panagiotis Triadis) left. In the last four games, we played well but we couldn’t score. That is the only issue we had. The players gave their everything and in every training session. They are doing a good job.”

Providing an injury update, Jarni informed, “Except Puitea (Lalthathanga Khawlhring), everyone else is ready. Hopefully he will be ready by the next match. We have 23 players available. All of them would like to play but only 11 can play. Every player we choose will give 100%, that’s for sure.”

Jarni was joined by defender Kai Heerings, who will be returning from a brief injury layoff. “I feel good and fit again. I cannot wait to play. We are a team, working together and we keep telling ourselves that we are a team. We have a chance to turn things around,” he said.

Read the Match Preview here.