Yokohama F. Marinos vs Kawasaki Frontale

Nissan Stadium is the venue as Yokohama F. Marinos and Kawasaki Frontale go head-to-head in a mouth-watering J1 League encounter.

Yokohama F. Marinos’ J1 League title defense is moving in the right direction, even though a goal-glutted 2-2 draw at Nagoya Grampus in a midweek top-table six-pointer threw a spanner in the works. That result knocked the ‘Marinos’ down from an impressive six-match winning league streak beforehand, allowing second-placed Vissel Kobe to reduce the gap to only three points. Since Kobe also have a game in hand, Yokohama must return to winning ways instantly to maintain their place at the top, but facing Kawasaki doesn’t bode well. Indeed, Kevin Muscat’s men have only won two of their last eight top-flight H2Hs (D1, L4), including the most recent one in February.

Following a 2-1 defeat in the reverse fixture, Kawasaki Frontale are staring down the barrel of back-to-back H2H losses for the first time since 2014. Based on their disastrous record of one win across their last six away games in all competitions (D1, L4), Kawasaki’s chances of defying their underwhelming six-game H2H league run at the Nissan Stadium are looking rather far-fetched. It’s also worth noting that Toru Oniki’s side conceded at least two goals five times on their last six competitive travels, identifying their poor-performing backline as the team’s weakest link. Unfortunately for Oniki, his men are not exactly firing on all cylinders, having netted under 1.5 goals on their last five J1 League trips.