East Bengal take on Arrows as title race hots up

As the title race is getting tight by each clash, East Bengal will go full throttle against talented Indian Arrows in their I-League return-leg clash at Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan, here on Friday.

The two teams met 10 days back with the Kolkata giants emerging winners but to the Arrows' credit, they put up a great fight and even scored in the dying stages against a team which boasts of a World-Cupper in their defence.

The young Indian Arrows squad coached by Floyd Pinto will look to sustain the momentum gained over the last five games, a period in which they notched up nine of their 13 points, placing them in the eighth position.

They registered their fourth win of the season four days back against Shillong Lajong, whom they swamped 3-0 at their home.

"The memories of the last match is still fresh and we can do much better than what we did. If we play every game according to the game plan, we can easily manage three points," said Pinto.

"I am happy with my team's performance. They have improved a lot. Our previous game against Shillong was very good. East Bengal is a strong team and they have a good attack with good quality of players in the team. We will be giving our best, will play together and cover up for each other."
Their Spanish coach Alejandro Menendez Garcia said, "We will keep giving our best shot. We are in the league and there are many matches left and if we play well, get the points and continue winning, we can still fight for the title. Tomorrow's match will be difficult because it is a young team, but they have good skills and play with high intensity. We need to match up to that."