Kawasaki Frontale vs Shimizu S-Pulse 26/08/20

26 August 2020

Kawasaki Frontale will be looking to return to winning ways in the J1 League when they take on out-of-sorts Shimizu S-Pulse at the Kawasaki Todoroki Stadium this weekend.

The hosts have suffered a dip in form lately, going from ten consecutive J1 League triumphs to two straight games without a win (D1, L1), as they enter this round on the back of a 2-2 away draw with Vissel Kobe. However, the current league-toppers boast an almost perfect home record this season (W5, D1), with four of those five victories coming despite a -1 handicap. Quick out of the blocks, Toru Oniki’s men have netted a league-high eight first-half goals, conceding only two in that same timeframe. Having scored an average of 2.5 goals per J1 League home fixture, Kawasaki will be hungry for more after bagging over 1.5 goals in all seven of their previous top-flight H2Hs held at this venue (W4, D2, L1).

On the other hand, the visitors take the field after failing to seal all three points in three of their previous league outings (D1, L2), with the last two both seeing over 4.5 goals and both teams on the scoresheet. It’s been an utterly disappointing away campaign for Shimizu so far when it comes to their away matches. Peter Cklamovski’s team are one of two sides yet to pick up a win on the road this term (D3, L2), having scored a league joint-low three goals away from home. Particularly ponderous in the attacking third before the half-time whistle, ‘S-Pa’ have failed to get on the scoresheet in the first half in all four of their previous J1 League trips.