Tokyo Verdy vs Cerezo Osaka

Ajinomoto Stadium is the venue as mid-table Tokyo Verdy and high-flying Cerezo Osaka go head-to-head in an exciting J1 League showdown.

Tokyo Verdy’s problems with notoriously inconsistent performances keep them pinned to mid-table as they head into proceedings looking to buck a disappointing trend of alternating between winning (3) and losing (3) across their last six league outings. After a morale-boosting 2-1 victory at Yokohama F. Marinos, they could win back-to-back league matches for the first time since the beginning of March. Chances are they could make it, considering they’ve emerged victorious from their last three competitive games on home turf, netting precisely five goals in two of them. However, Hiroshi Jofuku’s men would be well-advised not to take anything for granted against a Cerezo Osaka team they’ve lost to in three of their last four H2H home encounters (D1) despite scoring on each occasion.

In the meantime, after three successive defeats at the start of May, visiting Cerezo Osaka have gone from strength to strength, racking up a seven-game unbeaten J1 League run (W4, D3) to climb to fifth in the standings, only three points adrift of the top three. But there’s ample room for improvement on the road, where they lament an indifferent record across ten league games this season (W3, D4, L3). In fact, they’ve won just once on their last six top-flight travels (D2, L3). Yet, if it’s any consolation, they’re unbeaten in five consecutive away outings across all competitions in the build-up to this trip (W2, D3) despite scoring precisely once on three occasions.