Looking to close the gap on their rivals as they pursue an unlikely top-three finish, Cerezo Osaka will welcome a stuttering Nagoya Grampus side to Yodoko Sakura Stadium for a J1 League meeting on Sunday afternoon.
The Cherry Blossoms come into this clash after narrowly getting the better of Sagan Tosu last time out, whilst the Grampus Eight are aiming to make amends following a limp showing versus Urawa Red Diamonds.
Match preview
Either side of participation in two cup competitions, Cerezo Osaka have managed to grow their unbeaten run in the J1 League to six matches, with the Cherry Blossoms recording a hard-fought success on Wednesday night, when relegation-threatened Sagan Tosu came to town and returned home with their tails between their legs.
That being said, it was not a straightforward collection of maximum points at Yodoko Sakura Stadium for the hosts, who had to rely on a first-half own goal from Sagan midfielder Kohei Tezuka to breach the net of Ii-Kyu Park, although the home crowd will not be overly fussed about how their side secured the victory.
After a positive start to the summer schedule, Cerezo are currently occupying seventh position in the J1 League table, six points behind Gamba Osaka in the AFC Cup qualification spot, as the Cherry Blossoms aim for a first top-three placement since 2017, the year they returned to this level from the second tier.
Cerezo's dreams of playing on the continental stage in the near future will be highly dependent on the attacking output of Brazilian marksman Leo, who has bagged 14 goals in just 20 league appearances so far in 2024, meaning that he is leading the division's Golden Boot race ahead of compatriot Anderson Lopes (12).
If the league was determined purely on home form, then the Cherry Blossoms would be challenging for a first Japanese title since 1980, with Sunday's hosts earning 19 points from 10 home matches, with only Kashima Antlers (22) and Gamba Osaka (22) faring better at their respective home bases to date.
After threatening to challenge in the upper echelons of the J1 League until the middle of May, Nagoya Grampus's current five-game winless run has lowered expectations significantly at Toyota Stadium, with a narrow home defeat to Urawa earlier this week doing little to raise spirits.
The Red Diamonds raced into an early lead courtesy of a seventh-minute strike from attacking midfielder Ryoma Watanabe, and that effort proved to be the decisive moment of the contest, with the first-half dismissal of wing-back Takuya Uchida severely hindering Grampus Eight's chances of a comeback.
Having finished in the top half of the division in each of the last four years, Kenta Hasegawa's troops are in real danger of ending the streak of top-nine finishes for Sunday's visitors, who are sitting in 11th heading into this weekend, but only two points behind Urawa directly above.
Strangely, Nagoya have fared better on their travels than compared to at Toyota Stadium so far in 2024, with Grampus Eight's nine away matches yielding a commendable tally of 15 points, with none of those contests ending in a share of the spoils, meaning it is hard to bet against an outright winner in Osaka on Sunday.
Three of the last four matches between the two sides have ended in the favour of Nagoya, but they were defeated in their most recent trip to Cerezo in August 2023, when a Satoki Uejo's brace and a late strike from Sota Kitano sealed a 3-1 success for Akio Kogiku's men.
Team News
Having looked relatively solid in recent weeks and keeping a clean sheet on Wednesday, Cerezo are set to stick with a centre-back pairing of Ryuya Nishio and Koji Toriumi.
A menacing-looking front two of Uejo and bagsman Leo will start again, but the four places in midfield are more contentious, with Masaya Shibayama potentially being promoted from the bench.
After receiving his marching orders in the first half against Urawa earlier in the week, wide man Uchida will be suspended for the trip to Osaka on Sunday.
Yuki Nogami is a candidate to come into the XI at wing-back, although the 33-year-old is primarily a central defender who can operate in a number of different roles.
There could be some alterations in attacking areas for the Grampus Eight, with both Noriyoshi Sakai and 36-year-old Patric pushing for starts.
Cerezo Osaka possible starting lineup:
Kim; Okuda, Nishio, Toriumi, Funaki; Fernandes, Tanaka, Okuno, Capixaba; Uejo, Leo
Nagoya Grampus possible starting lineup:
Langerak; Yoshida, Ha, Mikuni; Nakayama, Morishima, Inagaki, Kubo; Yamagishi, Shiihashi; Nagai
We say: Cerezo Osaka 1-0 Nagoya Grampus
Coming into this clash in a good vein of form, Cerezo should be confident of recording their fourth straight home win across all competitions on Sunday.
Nagoya battled on with a numerical disadvantage during their loss earlier in the week, and we feel that it could be another difficult day for the Grampus Eight in this one.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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