Urawa Red Diamonds and Kashiwa Reysol bring round 25 of the Japanese J1 League campaign to an end when they go head to head at the Saitama Stadium on Wednesday.
Both sides head into the midweek clash fresh off the back of friendly defeats, with the hosts losing to Premier League side Newcastle United and the Aurinegro suffering a narrow 1-0 loss at the hands of FC Tokyo.
Match preview
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Urawa Red Diamonds were one of the few Japanese sides involved in a mid-season friendly last Tuesday as they suffered a 4-1 defeat against Newcastle United when the two teams faced off at the Saitama Stadium.
After falling behind to Alexander Isak's third-minute opener, Rio Nitta levelled matters for the home side midway through the first half but Jacob Murphy netted a brace to put Newcastle in a commanding lead before Lewis Hall completed the rout in the 59th minute.
Urawa Red Diamonds now turn their attention to the J1 League, where they have suffered a drop-off in form in recent weeks, picking up just one point from the last nine available.
Since claiming successive wins over Nagoya Grampus and Jubilo Iwata in June, the Red Devils have failed to win three straight league matches, suffering defeats against Shonan Bellmare and Consadole Sapporo on either side of a goalless draw with Kyoto Sanga on July 14.
Per Mathias Hogmo's men have lost nine of their 24 J1 League matches so far while claiming nine wins and six draws to collect 33 points and sit 10th in the table, but could move into seventh place with all three points on Wednesday.
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Kashiwa Reysol, on the other hand, were handed a second consecutive league defeat on July 20 when they were beaten 3-2 by Kawasaki Frontale at the Kashiwa Hitachi Stadium.
With Matheus Savio failing to level matters from the penalty spot in the 90th minute, Yasuto Wakizaka's 79th-minute strike was enough to separate the teams as Kawasaki held firm to see out their sixth league win.
Prior to that, Kashiwa Reysol were denied a fourth consecutive victory across all competitions on July 14, when they suffered a 2-1 loss against Nagoya Grampus courtesy of second-half goals from Yuki Soma and Yuya Yamagishi.
With 29 points from 24 matches, Masami Ihara's men are currently 13th in the J1 League standings, just five points above the relegation zone heading into the final 10 games of the campaign.
While the Aurinegro will be looking to find their feet and pull clear of the danger zone, they have struggled for results on the road, where they are on a run of one win and five defeats in last nine matches across all competitions since the start of May.
Like Urawa Red Diamonds, Kashiwa head into Wednesday off the back of a mid-season friendly defeat as they were beaten 1-0 by FC Tokyo when the two sides squared off at the Tokyo Kodaira Ground last Tuesday.
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Team News
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Barring any late fitness issues, Urawa Red Diamonds head into the midweek clash with a clean bill of health and we expect Hogmo to name a similar XI from their friendly defeat against Newcastle.
That said, Hirokazu Ishihara, Rikito Inoue, Yota Sato and Takahiro Sekine should form the back four once again, with Atsuki Ito and former Torino man Samuel Gustafson teaming up in the centre of the park.
Making just his second appearance since his move from St Polten, Nitta grabbed his second goal in a Red Devils' shirt with his strike against Newcastle and the 21-year-old could be rewarded with a starting role on Wednesday.
Kashiwa Reysol remain without 21-year-old forward Hidetaka Maie, who continues his lengthy spell on the sidelines after suffering a cruciate ligament injury in July 2023.
Having missed 10 straight games due to a hamstring problem, Tomoya Inukai played the full 90 minutes against Kawasaki on July 20 and the experienced defender should retain his role in the XI on Wednesday.
He should form the back four with Eiichi Katayama, Taiyo Koga and Brazilian full-back Diego, while 27-year-old Kenta Matsumoto should start in goal once again.
Kakita, who completed a move from Kashima Antlers back in July, opened his account for the Aurinegro against Kawasaki and the 27-year-old should spearhead the attack once again.
Urawa Red Diamonds possible starting lineup:
Nishikawa; Ishihara, Inoue, Sato, Sekine; Ito, Gustafson; Matsuo, Okubo, Watanabe; Nitta
Kashiwa Reysol possible starting lineup:
Matsumoto, Katayama, Inukai, Koga, Diego; Yamada, Shirai, Toshima, Savio; Kakita, Kinoshita
We say: Urawa Red Diamonds 2-1 Kashiwa Reysol
Urawa Red Diamonds and Kashiwa Reysol have struggled for results in recent weeks and will head into Wednesday's clash in search of a pick-me-up. The Aurinegro's form on the road leaves a lot to be desired and we fancy Urawa to come away with a narrow victory.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Joshua Ojele
