Urawa Red Diamonds vs Oita Trinita 29/08/20

29 August 2020

Urawa Red Diamonds will be looking to snap a two-game winless J1 League run against Oita Trinita when the two sides lock horns at the Saitama Stadium this weekend.

A 2-1 home defeat to Vissel Kobe now means three of Urawa’s last four league fixtures have featured over 2.5 goals and both teams scoring (W2, L2). But, at home in the J1 League, the hosts have picked up a little bit of everything this term (W2, D2, L2), with four of those six matches containing under 2.5 goals. Another low-scoring contest is on the cards, given three of their previous four league H2Hs held at this venue have featured under 1.5 goals (W2, D1, L1). Urawa’s hopes of clinching all three points will hinge on whether they can open the scoring or not. Indeed, they’ve lost both of their top-flight home games in which they conceded the opening goal while winning two of three in which they were the ones to break the deadlock (D1).

Meanwhile, the visitors have overseen a slight upturn in form ahead of this trip, going from five consecutive J1 League defeats to three successive matches without a loss (W1, D2). Yet, a genuine lack of firepower up front has seen Oita score under 1.5 goals seven times during that eight-game sequence, with five of the six goals they netted across those fixtures arriving beyond the half-hour mark. Tomohiro Katanosaka’s men are also winless in four J1 League trips (D1, L3), having conceded two goals or more on three of those occasions while netting over 1.5 goals just once in the process.