Cerezo Osaka vs Vissel Kobe

Yodoko Sakura Stadium is the venue as Cerezo Osaka and Vissel Kobe go head-to-head in a heavyweight J1 League showdown.

Cerezo Osaka’s decent three-match winning league run came to a halt last weekend as they slipped to a 3-1 defeat at third-placed Nagoya Grampus, falling six points behind the final AFC Champions League qualification spot. Akio Kogiku’s side recovered well, recording a thumping 5-0 home win over lower-league outfit Cento Cuore Harima in midweek Emperor’s Cup action to consolidate their ranks ahead of this fixture. After back-to-back 1-0 league defeats on home turf, they’ve won their last two competitive home matches by an aggregate score of 7-0, suggesting their eye-catching six-game unbeaten home league run against Kobe could stay intact (W3, D3). But much will depend on how they enter this contest, considering they’ve gone winless in all four home league fixtures in which they’ve conceded first this term (D1, L3).

On the other hand, Vissel Kobe’s pursuit of their first-ever J1 League title has been off to a promising start, as they come into this matchday atop the league standings, level on points with defending champions Yokohama F. Marinos. With a game in hand, ‘Ushi’ are still in firm control of their fate, especially after stringing together six successive league games without losing (W4, D2). While a 2-0 defeat to Barcelona in an exhibition contest in the run-up to this encounter may have somewhat derailed their lofty ambitions, the visitors can rely on their six-match unbeaten away league streak (W4, D2) to bounce back at the Yodoko Sakura Stadium, where they last won in 2014 all competitions included (D3, L5 since).