NEW DELHI. Kerala Blasters beats Minerva Punjab 1-0 after D. Diamantakos scored a penalty (51′). Kerala Blasters made the most of its better ball possession (59%).

The match was played at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium stadium in New Delhi on Thursday and it started at 8:00 pm local time. The referee was Rahul Kumar Gupta with the support of Sumanta Dutta and . The 4th official was Senthil Nathan. The weather was few clouds. The temperature was pleasant at 20.98 degrees Celsius or 69.76 Fahrenheit. The humidity was 17%.​

Match Statistics​

Ball possession

Kerala Blasters had a superior ball possession 59% while Minerva Punjab was struggling with a 41% ball possession.

Attitude and shots

Kerala Blasters was more pushing with 79 dangerous attacks and 14 shots of which 3 were on target. This is one of the reasons why Kerala Blasters won the match.​

Minerva Punjab shot 6 times, 0 on target, 4 off target. Regarding the opposition, Kerala Blasters shot 14 times, 3 on target, 8 off target.

Cards

Minerva Punjab received 3 yellow cards (Kingslee Fernandes, Khaiminthang Lhungdim and Nikhil Prabhu). Regarding the opposition, Kerala Blasters received 3 yellow cards (Saurav Mandal, Mohammed Azhar and Pritam Kotal).

Standings

After playing this match, Minerva Punjab stays with 5 points to remain in the 11th place. On the other side, Kerala Blasters will has 20 points like Goa to sit in the 2nd place.

Next matches

In the next match in the Indian Super League, Minerva Punjab will host Chennaiyin on the 18th of December with a 1-0 head to head statistic in favor of Chennaiyin (0 draws).

Minerva Punjab – Formation

Minerva Punjab adopted the conservative line-up (4-4-2).

The manager Staikos Vergetis decided to play with the following team: Kiran Chemjong  (7.0), Khaiminthang Lhungdim (6.3), Suresh Meitei (7.0), Dimitris Chatziisaias (7.0), Nitesh Darjee (6.8), Tekcham Abhishek Singh (6.1), Ashish Pradhan (6.7), Nikhil Prabhu (6.4), Khungdongbam Krishananda Singh (7.1), Luka Majcen (7.0) and Madih Talal (6.4).

The home team had on the bench: Ravi Kumar, Wilmar Jordan (7.5), Daniel Lalhlimpuia, Prasanth Karuthadathkuni (6.7), Brandon Vanlalremdika, Kingslee Fernandes (6.3), Leon Augustine (6.4), Melroy Assisi and Amarjit Kiyam Singh.

Substitutions

Minerva Punjab made 4 changes: Ashish Pradhan for Kingslee Fernandes (59′), Madih Talal for Wilmar Jordan (59′), Khungdongbam Krishananda Singh for Leon Augustine (68′) and Tekcham Abhishek Singh for Prasanth Karuthadathkuni (59′).

Player of the match: Wilmar Jordan​

The most impressive player for Minerva Punjab was Wilmar Jordan.

His rating is 7.5 with 6 passes (100% accurate) and 0 key passes. He won 4 duels out of 5. He performed 1 cross.

His performance was sensational also because he commenced the match from the bench before entering in the 59′.

Kerala Blasters – Formation

Also Kerala Blasters adopted the conservative line-up (4-4-2).

Ivan Vukomanovic played with: Sachin Suresh (7.3), Pritam Kotal (7.0), Miloš Drinčić (7.5), Marko Lešković (7.3), Naocha Huidrom Singh (8.1), Rahul KP (6.7), Mohammed Azhar (7.8), Vibin Mohanan (7.7), Mohammed Aimen (7.5), Kwame Peprah (7.3) and Dimitris Diamantakos (7.7).

They had on the bench: Karanjit Singh, Sandeep Singh, Saurav Mandal (6.7), Daisuke Sakai (6.8), Sukham Yoihenba Meitei, Ishan Pandita (6.7), Prabir Das, Nihal Sudheesh and Bryce Miranda.

Substitutions

Kerala Blasters made 3 changes: Rahul KP for Saurav Mandal (79′), Mohammed Aimen for Ishan Pandita (85′) and Dimitris Diamantakos for Daisuke Sakai (86′).

Player of the match: Naocha Huidrom Singh​

Following our analysis, the most impressive player for Kerala Blasters was Naocha Huidrom Singh even if he didn’t score the decisive goal.

His rating is 8.1 with 63 passes (73% accurate) and 0 key passes. He won 12 duels out of 15. He performed 4 crosses.

Results of the day

These are the results of the day in the Indian Super League.​

• Minerva Punjab – Kerala Blasters – 0-1