Top meets bottom in the J1 League when Yokohama F Marinos host Shonan Bellmare on Sunday.
The two sides drew 1-1 in the reverse fixture in April.
Match preview
Having finished top of the pile in Japan's top flight for the seventh time in their history last season, Yokohama look well set to retain their title this time around.
Five successive league wins in recent weeks has helped Marinos amass 39 points from 18 games, moving them three points clear of second-placed Vissel Kobe, who do possess one game in hand on the league leaders.
Managed by former Wolverhampton Wanderers midfielder Kevin Muscat since July 2021, the former Australia international has made himself a crowd favourite in Japan's second-largest city, winning the title in his debut season before going on to win the Japanese Super Cup earlier this year.
The 49-year-old clearly has plenty of pedigree having also won two titles with Melbourne Victory in his home country, and he will be fully expecting his team to swat aside the worst performing side in the division so far this season when they compete at the Nissan Stadium this weekend.
Shonan Bellmare, meanwhile, have repeatedly staved off relegation to the J2 League since being promoted in 2017, recording their best league finish in recent years when coming 12th last time out.
Managed by Satoshi Yamaguchi since September 2021, with the two-time Japan international taking on his first ever managerial role when being appointed, they have clearly struggled to kick on from the previous campaign with only 12 points recorded from 18 games this season.
Just one point from their last nine matches has seen the Hiratsuka-based side drop to the bottom of the table like a stone, although both Kashiwa Reysol and Yokohama FC are only one point ahead of them prior to this weekend's action.
Yamaguchi's side could scarcely have a tougher task than travelling to the reigning champions and league leaders, though, so they may have to wait before moving out of the danger zone.
Team News
Yokohama will be without Hiroki Ikura, Ryotaro Tsundoda and Ryuta Koike due to injury, with Muscat unlikely to make any changes to the side which dispatched Sanfrecce in their last league match.
That would mean another start for former Cruzeiro winger Elber, who scored the only goal of the game during that victory.
Shonan Bellmare, meanwhile, will travel without Takuya Okamoto and Masaki Ikeda due to injury, with Yamaguchi likely to be weighing up his options after seeing his side thrashed 4-1 by Urawa Red Diamonds in midweek.
Yuki Ohashi's place in the visitors' attack should be safe, though, given that he equalised prior to the hour mark.
Yokohama F Marinos possible starting lineup:
Ichimori; Matsubara, Kamijima, Dudu, Koike; Kida, Watnabe; Matheus, Nishimura, Elber; Lopes
Shonan Bellmare possible starting lineup:
Song; Takahashi, Ono, Yamamoto; Ishihara, Sugioka, Nagaki, Onose, Yamada; Ohashi, Machino
We say: Yokohama F Marinos 3-0 Shonan Bellmare
We cannot see beyond a routine victory for the hosts, who have benefitted from having a week between fixtures in contrast to the visitors, who fell to yet another defeat on Wednesday.
Ultimately, there are 27 points between these two teams for a reason, with the difference in quality between them surely set to play out at the Nissan Stadium on Sunday.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Brett Curtis
