Pohang Steelers vs Seoul

Pohang Steel Yard is the venue as Pohang Steelers take on rock-bottom Seoul in a K League 1 match they have to win to boost their play-off chances.

Pohang return to domestic football after securing a place in the AFC Champions League knock-outs, looking to post back-to-back K League 1 triumphs for the first time since mid-April. Nonetheless, the hosts have suffered just one defeat in their last ten league matches (W5, D4). A low-scoring theme highlighted that ten-game sequence, with 80% of those fixtures featuring under 2.5 goals. Having that said, each of the last four H2H meetings between these adversaries in all competitions has seen over 2.5 goals and both teams on the scoresheet. Even though they are not overwhelming favorites here, the ‘Steelers’ can take confidence from going unbeaten in their last seven competitive home games on the trot (W4, D3), conceding under 1.5 goals on each occasion. But a lack of firepower in the attacking third has seen Pohang score one goal or less in nine of their last 11 competitive home matches.

In the meantime, the visitors are having a torrid time as they take the field on the back of a horrendous 12-game winless streak in K League 1 (D5, L7), last claiming a league victory in mid-March. Away from home, they have gone from back-to-back league defeats to four successive stalemates, three of which yielded a goalless half-time score. Park Jin-sub’s men have struggled for goals on the road this term, netting 2+ goals in just two of their ten away top-flight fixtures on an average of 0.9 per game. At the other end of the pitch, a vast majority (75%) of Seoul’s away K League 1 goals conceded this season have arrived in the second half of play (9/12). But, they have kept two clean sheets in their last four league trips to Pohang, conceding over 1.5 goals once in the other two (W2, D1, L1).