Urawa Reds vs Shonan Bellmare

Saitama Stadium is the venue as Urawa Reds and Shonan Bellmare face off against each other in a lopsided J1 League showdown.

Urawa’s pursuit of a top-three finish has stuttered a bit of late as an underwhelming run of three straight league draws left them five points adrift of third-placed Nagoya Grampus. Home comforts should help the ‘Reds’ get back to winning ways as they’ve only lost once in eight home league outings this term (W5, D2), though it’s worth noting their last three competitive matches at the Saitama Stadium have ended level. Urawa’s recent proclivities for sharing the spoils could come back to bite them here, considering three of their last five home meetings with Shonan in all competitions have ended as a draw (W1, L1). Interestingly, four of those five encounters saw one or both sides fail to score, suggesting the opening goal could determine the outcome of this contest.

Meanwhile, Shonan Bellmare wouldn’t mind taking home a point after suffering three defeats on the trot in the warm-up to this trip, including a demoralizing 6-0 home thumping at the hands of Sagan Tosu last time out. Unlike their hosts, Satoshi Yamaguchi’s men face a season-long fight against the drop as they commence this round nailed to the bottom of the standings, courtesy of a wayward 12% win ratio across their opening 17 J1 League fixtures (W2, D6, L9). But with their relegation rivals Kashiwa Reysol and Yokohama still within a one-point distance, a win at Urawa would likely propel them to safety. That looks rather far-fetched, though, as they’ve lost their last three away league games without scoring.