Kashima Antlers vs Kawasaki Frontale 05/08/20

05 August 2020

Kashima Antlers and Kawasaki Frontale go head-to-head at the Yamaha Stadium, as the home side look to kick-start their YBC Levain Cup Group A campaign.

The hosts have started their Group A campaign with a whimper rather than a bang, succumbing to a narrow 1-0 away loss to Nagoya on the opening matchday. Additionally, the ‘Antlers’ have failed to impress since the resumption of football in July. They’ve lost four of seven competitive matches post restart (W2, D1), with four of those games seeing over 2.5 goals and both teams on the scoresheet. At home in 2020, Kashima have won only once in four fixtures across various competitions (D1, L2), conceding over 1.5 goals in the last three such outings. Improving that record seems like a daunting prospect for Kashima, who failed to beat Kawasaki in eight of their previous competitive H2Hs on home turf (D4, L4).

Meanwhile, the visitors dismantled Shimizu 5-1 at home in the Group A curtain-raiser and have moved on to rack up eight consecutive matches without a loss (W7, D1). Notably, all but one of those seven victories saw Kawasaki score over 1.5 goals, with four yielding a full-time margin of at least two goals. Particularly dangerous after the break, Toru Oniki’s men have bagged 11 of their last 12 goals in the second half, with eight of them coming beyond the hour mark. Also, Kawasaki take this trip on a run of 11 away matches without a loss (W8, D3), having kept a clean sheet in five of those eight wins.