Cerezo Osaka vs Vegalta Sendai 23/08/20

23 August 2020

Cerezo Osaka will be looking to extend a four-game unbeaten run in their J1 League H2Hs with Vegalta Sendai (W2, D2) when the two teams collide at Yanmar Stadium Nagai this weekend.

Cerezo’s six-game unbeaten run in J1 League (W3, D3) was brought to a halt last time out as Kawasaki Frontale brushed them aside 5-2 on the road. Indeed, the hosts conceded just one goal less in 90 minutes against Kawasaki then in ten league fixtures prior (6). Cerezo’s rock-solid defense has kept four clean sheets in five J1 League home outings this term. However, a genuine lack of firepower in the attacking third has seen them score just three times across those five clashes, drawing a blank in the last three. Beating Sendai won’t be a simple task, given that they’ve picked up only one triumph from their previous eight top-flight H2Hs held at this venue (D4, L3).

As for the visitors, they’ve won just once in their last eight league matches (D3, L4), scoring under 1.5 goals on five of those occasions. But, Takashi Kiyama’s men must be confident of getting on the scoresheet here after finding the net in all four of their top-flight trips this term (W2, D1, L1). Indeed, all three of their previous J1 League away games have seen goals in both halves and both teams score. The one thing that can encourage the traveling fans is that Sendai’s robust defense has restricted their opponent to a maximum of one goal per match in three of four league trips so far this season.