Mumbai City FC vs Bengaluru FC Prediction: Mumbai has added advantage of extra days off

Mumbai FC will welcome Bengaluru FC in the first leg of the semi-finals of ISL at Mumbai Football Arena. Both teams will be looking to get a good start and make their job easier in the second leg. Who will win? 

Mumbai is the table toppers and Sheild winners of this season. They have stunned everyone with their performance and consistency. The Islanders have beaten every record this season from the number of goals scored, and the number of games won in a season to a record number of consecutive wins. The team has also been rock solid at the back with only 21 goals conceded across the season. Mumbai is however coming into the game on the back of back-to-back defeats in the last two league games and one of them was against Bengaluru FC. In fact, Bengaluru ended their invincible record this season. They are going into the game after enjoying ample time off the pitch between the season and the start of playoffs. The team has a good mindset and with plenty of time to recover between matches, the coach will field his tried and tested playing eleven. 

Phurba Lachenpa; Sanjeev Stalin, Mourtada Fall, Mehtab Singh, Vignesh Dakshinamurthy; Lalengmawia Ralte, Ahmed Jahouh, Alberto Noguera; Lallianzuala Chhangte, Jorge Pereyra Diaz, Bipin Singh

Bengaluru has had the season of two halves. In the first one, they were an average side who was being beaten every other game week but since the turn of the year, they are yet to lose a game. They have a 100% record against all teams this season and are coming into the semi-finals on the back of a controversial but well-deserved victory against Kerala blasters in the eliminator. Sunil Chettri's quick thinking and cheeky execution of the free kick lead them to their victory. They played a full 120 minutes which will be a cause of concern going into the first leg of the semi-finals. Though Bengaluru has scored only 27 goals in the league fixtures, most of their goals came in the last stages. They know how to shut the gate in defence and pitch a win. Bengaluru will be looking to double over Mumbai city in 23 days. 

Gurpreet Singh Sandhu; Bruno Ramires, Sandesh Jhinghan, Alan Costa; Prabis Das, Suresh Singh Wangjam, Rohit Kumar, Naorem Roshan Singh; Javi Hernandez; Roy Krishna, Sivasakthi Narayanan

The game looks very even with both teams enjoying success over long periods of time in the season. One of the two teams has to leave the arena but it's expected that they will give their all. Expect a cagey start and when the first goal goes in floodgates will open. We can expect under 2.5 goals in the game as the teams will be looking to not concede. If the scores are level it will benefit the Bengaluru side. Mumbai is going into the game as favourites with the additional time they have been provided.