East Bengal will host Shillong Lajong FC in what will be a crucial encounter in the 21st round of the I-League at the Saltlake Stadium in Kolkata tomorrow evening at 17.00 IST. The match will be aired live on Ten Action.

Shillong Lajong FC have come off a satisfactory display in Pune where they drew 2-2 against Pune FC. A key positive from that game was the performance of Uilliams Souza Silva who found the net twice and is looking to play a key role again in the match against the red-and-gold on Friday.

Speaking on the issue Lajong coach Thangboi Singto said, “Uilliams is in scoring touch now after netting three goals from three games played. All the team members have also given 100% which I’m happy about. We need to play as a team to win.”

Shillong Lajong have not had the best of performances after their Federation Cup campaign as they earned only two points from their last three games. The results have made the game against East Bengal a very important fixture given the context of both the teams positions in the I-League table.

Thangboi Singto added, “We have to win to stay in the hunt for top 5. We need to take the pressure positively and translate into a winning performance.”

East Bengal on the other hand are only two points behind The Reds with three games in hand, which is to their advantage. The Kolkata side have played four I-League games after the Federation Cup and have only won once out of the four games. The win came against Kolkata rivals Mohammedan Sporting with goals from Edeh Chidi and James Moga. Armando Colaco was satisfied with his team’s performance against Mohammedan Sporting especially the match winning performances from Shylo Malswam Tulunga and Edeh Chidi.