Gangwon vs Jeonbuk Motors

Chuncheon Songam Stadium as out-of-form Gangwon and Jeonbuk Motors meet in a high-stakes K League 1 showdown.

An underwhelming 2-1 home loss to Daejeon in midweek K League 1 action condemned a lowly Gangwon to a seventh consecutive league match without a victory (D2, L5). With only rock-bottom Suwon Bluewings (8) accruing fewer points than Gangwon (12), expectations are low in the home camp, even though they eked out a 1-0 win in the reverse fixture. Despite winning twice in their last three league H2Hs (L1), Choi Yong-Soo’s men come into proceedings as pre-match outsiders, albeit they can draw confidence from a decent five-game home form (W2, D2, L1). Interestingly, four of those five matches saw one or both sides fail to get on the scoresheet, highlighting the potential for a low-scoring contest.

In the meantime, Jeonbuk built on a 2-0 home win over pacesetters Ulsan Hyundai with a narrow 1-0 triumph over Daegu in midweek, as they begin this round two points adrift of the playoff line. However, they’ve massively underperfomed away from home this season, going winless in six of their eight top-flight travels (W2, D2, L4). Indeed, except for a 3-0 thumping of basement boys Suwon Bluewings in early May, the ‘Warriors’ have failed to win three of their last four away league games (D2, L1), drawing a blank in the most recent two. A lack of scoring prowess explains why Dan Petrescu’s men have lost all three league fixtures when conceding the opening goal this term.