Busan IPark vs Pohang Steelers 22/08/20

22 August 2020

The two sides that have had identical returns from their last three K League1 matches (D1, L2) will lock horns at Busan Gudeok Stadium as Busan IPark take on Pohang Steelers.

Winless in five consecutive league matches (D2, L3), the hosts are unlikely to find the way out of crisis here, given all three of their previous top-flight H2Hs resulted in a loss. A genuine lack of firepower in the final third has seen Busan draw a blank in three of their last five K League 1 outings and score one apiece in the other two. Additionally, the ‘Park Royals’ have won just once in eight league matches at home this season (D5, L2), scoring under 1.5 goals on six of those occasions. If they do get on the scoresheet here, Cho Deok-je’s players are likely to achieve that after the break – 75% of Busan’s home goals scored this season arrived in the second half (6/8).

The visitors are not enjoying the best of times themselves either, as they head to Busan on a four-game winless K League 1 run. Despite three of those games seeing both teams hit the net, only one has produced over 2.5 goals. Against the backdrop of low-scoring affairs in the recent period, 62.5% of Pohang’s top-flight away matches this season featured three goals or more (5/8). Indeed, their free-flowing attack has netted the division’s second-high 19 goals on the road, scoring over 1.5 goals in five of eight K League 1 trips so far. Particularly lethal in the second half, the ‘Steelers’ have bagged 57.89% (11) of those goals after the half-time break.