Delightful dogfight as daring Vissel Kobe duel with determined Shimizu S-Pulse

It's no vacation for neither Vissel nor Shimizu S-Pulse as both were in action only a few days ago. Expect some tired legs on the pitch and/or possibly some changes to the lineups.

Vissel Kobe form and stats

With 2 J-League wins, 2 draws and 5 defeats from their home games, Vissel Kobe are certainly not brimming with confidence.

It's back home for Vissel Kobe, who return with a good feeling about themselves after beating Sagan Tosu away with the result 2-0. Muto (2) found the net in that victory. The talented striker Muto bested all the other players in that fixture and received a match rating of 7.84 out of 10. Muto scored two goals.

Before that game, the home loss against Urawa Reds with the scoreline 0-1.

The home team are moderate favourites in this game. How does Vissel Kobe handle that role? We have found 11 games in our database similar to this one, based on the home odds. The stats for these games are 3 wins, 5 draws and 3 defeats.

There will be little rest for Vissel Kobe after this match as they are travelling to Júbilo Iwata for a J-League game in only three days.

It's still early days, but we have some goal stats for the Vissel Kobe at home in the league. 9 on target and 9 scored by the opposition; from 9 matches. Vissel has at home met teams with this table position (low), two times. It has ended with less than 2.5 goals 2 of 2 times.

Shimizu S-Pulse form and stats

2 wins, 4 draws and 3 losses. That’s the product of Shimizu S-Pulse playing as the away team in the J-League this season. When Shimizu S-Pulse is visiting a side on the bottom half, they have won 2 of 2 matches. Gamba Osaka, Avispa Fukuoka, Júbilo Iwata, Shimizu S-Pulse and Shonan Bellmare is teams we like to compare Vissel Kobe with.

Shimizu S-Pulse failed to get anything from their last game, a home match vs Yokohama F. Marinos (placed 1st) that ended with defeat 3-5. An off the wall game with lots of goals last time out for Shimizu S-Pulse, as mentioned above. 8 goals in that fixture, will this match be as much fun? The attacker Santana got a match rating of 8.3 in that game. Santana scored one goal, served one assist and hit three key passes.

Before that, Shimizu travelled to Cerezo Osaka and returned home with a draw after the game finished 1-1.

We have checked recent matches where Shimizu S-Pulse have had similar odds to win. Win-draw-lose statistics from those 17 games were 4 victories, 7 draws and 6 defeats.

There might be some complaints about the fixture list from the Shimizu S-Pulse manager Mannarino as the team has another away game coming up in only four days, this time against Nagoya Grampus.

Shimizu have scored 10 goals on their travels this season, from 9 away games in the league. 11 goals have been conceded by Shimizu S-Pulse in these games. When Shimizu S-Pulse is visiting a side on the bottom half, 2 of 2 matches have ended with three or more goals. These are matches against Gamba Osaka, Avispa Fukuoka, Júbilo Iwata, Shimizu S-Pulse and Shonan Bellmare.

Head 2 Head

The two combatants have battled earlier this season: Shimizu S-Pulse - Vissel 0-0. As for the last ten games between these two teams, there's three Vissel Kobe victories, four draws and three Shimizu S-Pulse wins. Over/under statistics; six of these games ended with three goals or more, four matches with two goals or less.

Top Goalscorers

Y. Muto 5 goals

T. Santos Santana 5 goals

Y. Suzuki 3 goals

Vissel Kobe missing players

Shimizu S-Pulse missing players