In a historic derby, East Bengal FC aims for atonement as ATK Mohun Bagan targets the top four.

East Bengal FC and ATK Mohun Bagan will face off in the second and final Kolkata Derby of the season on Saturday at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan in the Hero Indian Super League (ISL). With a victory, the Mariners would have the opportunity to lock up a top-four finish. This is crucial because ATK Mohun Bagan will have a home-field advantage in the first round of the playoff knockouts. On the other side, a victory for the Torch Bearers would allow them to retake ninth spot from Jamshedpur FC.

East Bengal FC will want to finish the season strong as it nears its conclusion. The sole defeat suffered by Stephen Constantine's team in their previous four Hero ISL contests came at the hands of Chennaiyin FC.

While East Bengal have battled throughout, their best result in three seasons in the top division is 19 points from as many games.

At the pregame news conference on Saturday at Salt Lake Stadium, ATK Mohun Bagan captain Pritam Kotal stated, "The scenario would have been much different if we had converted all the opportunities we generated this season. Juan Ferrando, the head coach of ATK Mohun Bagan, concurred, "I suppose barring Mumbai City and Hyderabad FC, all the teams battled with consistency."

For more than three years, ATK Mohun Bagan has not dropped a Derby match. Seven meetings between the two rivals have taken place, including one in the I-League in January 2020 when Mohun Bagan didn't have ATK as its prefix.