Geylang International host leaders Albirex Niigata in their eighth match of the ongoing S.League season at Jalan Besar Stadium on Thursday.
The Eagles are heading into the match on the back of a 3-0 thrashing against Home United in their last league tie on 28 April at the Jalan Besar Stadium, which will be serve as their home ground from today's tie as Bedok Stadium's running track undergoes renovation.
On the other hand, the White Swans crushed Warriors 4-2 in their last league outing on 29 April.
The Eagles will have to quickly adapt to their new home and their first test against the mighty Albirex comes at a time when they have lost two of their key men - Anders Aplin and Stanley Ng - to suspensions.
Having lost three and won three this season, inconsistency has hurt Geylang and they will be well served if they earn three points today as it will help them keep the pressure on the top-four teams. However, lack of goals has been a concern for the team, which has scored the least (seven) among the top-five teams.
Meanwhile, Albirex, who are sitting pretty at the top of the table with 19 points from seven games, will see today's match as an opportunity to extend their lead. With Tsubasa Sano (eight goals) and Kento Nagasaki (three goals) setting the league on fire, the White Swans are expected to run a riot today.
Without Aplin, Geylang face a tough task of containing the likes of Sano and Nagasaki. Captain Isa Halim, while conceding that today's match is a tough test for them, revealed that the team will rely on their "fighting spirit" to eke out a positive result.
Team News
Geylang
Possible XI: Buhari; Hameed, Teh, Ichikawa, Rahman; Sendra, Halim, Sulaiman, Coto, Ghani, Anuar
Albirex
Possible XI: Akiyama, Tanaka, Inaba, Nakai, Kamata, Sano, Nagasaki, Sakamoto, Yanagi, Matoda, Nazawa
