National cups are something special for many teams and supporters. Today's match will decide whether it's Albirex Niigata or Kawasaki Frontale that keep their silverware dream alive.
It's no vacation for neither Albirex Niigata nor Kawasaki Frontale 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.
Albirex Niigata form and stats
Albirex Niigata participated in Emperor Cup the last season, where they reached the 2nd round.The J-League results at home this season for Albirex Niigata are 4-3-5 (wins-draws-losses).
Albirex faced defeat in their previous match, away at Kashima Antlers (0-2). Deng was "man of the match" with a rating of 7.44 out of 10. The defender Deng won 13 of 19 duels.
A strong away win before that one, visiting Avispa Fukuoka and winning 1-0.The match schedule is unforgiving for Albirex Niigata as they have a new game in only three days, a J-League match thankfully also at home. Urawa Reds are visiting.
Albirex Niigata are certainly not overdoing their scoring at home in league matches, having created 15 goals in 12 games. Albirex Niigata have conceded 19 from these games.
Kawasaki Frontale form and stats
Last season their Emperor Cup adventure ended in the 3rd round.The visitors are W5-D2-L6 on the road this term. That's in the J-League.
There were no winners in Kawasaki's previous match, the home game that ended 2-2 vs Consadole Sapporo. An inspired comeback made the scores level in Kawasaki Frontale's duel with Consadole Sapporo. It looked bad at 0-2 but the team were not done and fought back to 2-2 after Sasaki found the equalizer. The attacker Marcinho got a match rating of 7.6 in that game. Marcinho served one assist, hit four key passes and dribled past the opponent 2 of 4 times.
Preceding that game, the 2-3 loss visiting Sanfrecce Hiroshima's place.Kawasaki Frontale have another match away in just three days, a J-League match versus Cerezo Osaka. A difficult itinerary for the visitors!
Kawasaki have a decent goal production going in their away games, although not fantastic. In 13 league away games 18 goals have been scored. Kawasaki Frontale's defence is not exactly unbeatable as they have conceded 20 goals from these trips.
Head 2 Head
Numbers for the previous ten meetings involving these two participants are: two wins for Albirex Niigata, one draw and seven wins for Kawasaki Frontale. Over 2,5 goals: six times; under 2,5 goals: four games.
Top Goalscorers
  Y. Wakizaka 7 goals |  T. Miyashiro 6 goals |  Y. Segawa 5 goals |
Albirex Niigata missing players
Kawasaki Frontale missing players
| Albirex Niigata | Kawasaki Frontale | ||||||
| Total | Home | Statistics | Stat | Away | Total | ||
| 25 | 11 | Played | P | 11 | 25 | ||
| 8 | 4 | Won | W | 4 | 12 | ||
| 5 | 2 | Drew | D | 2 | 4 | ||
| 12 | 5 | Lost | L | 5 | 9 | ||
| 24 | 13 | Scored | S | 16 | 42 | ||
| 33 | 16 | Conceded | C | 17 | 30 | ||
| 88% | 91% | Over 0.5 | O 0.5 | 100% | 100% | ||
| 60% | 73% | Over 1.5 | O 1.5 | 82% | 72% | ||
| 40% | 55% | Over 2.5 | O 2.5 | 64% | 56% | ||
| 28% | 36% | Over 3.5 | O 3.5 | 36% | 32% | ||
| 12% | 9% | Over 4.5 | O 4.5 | 18% | 16% | ||
| 40% | 55% | BTTS | BTTS | 73% | 56% | ||
| 32% | 27% | Clean Sheets | C S | 18% | 32% | ||
| 40% | 27% | Failed to Score | F T | 9% | 12% | ||
| 5.3 | 6.5 | Corners for (avg) | C F | 4 | 4.6 | ||
| 3.8 | 3.4 | Corners against (avg) | C A | 3.8 | 4 | ||
| 1.4 | 0.8 | Yellow cards (avg) | Y C | 1.4 | 1.1 | ||
| 1 | 0 | Red cards | R C | 2 | 3 | ||
| 13.2 | 16.5 | Shots (avg) | S ( | 12.7 | 13.7 | ||
| 4.2 | 5.4 | Shots on Target (avg) | S O | 4.6 | 5 | ||
| 23% | 22% | Goal Efficiency | G E | 31% | 34% | ||
| 9.9 | 9.5 | Shots against (avg) | S A | 11.4 | 10.9 | ||
| 3.8 | 2.8 | Shots on Target against (avg) | S O | 4.7 | 4 | ||
| Total | Home | Away | |||||||||||||||||||
| # | Team | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | +/- | P |
| 1 | Yokohama F. Marinos | 25 | 15 | 5 | 5 | 49 | 30 | 12 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 29 | 11 | 13 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 20 | 19 | 19 | 50 |
| 2 | Vissel Kobe | 25 | 14 | 7 | 4 | 46 | 22 | 13 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 23 | 11 | 12 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 23 | 11 | 24 | 49 |
| 3 | Nagoya Grampus | 25 | 13 | 6 | 6 | 33 | 24 | 13 | 8 | 5 | 0 | 19 | 9 | 12 | 5 | 1 | 6 | 14 | 15 | 9 | 45 |
| 4 | Urawa Reds | 25 | 12 | 8 | 5 | 30 | 19 | 12 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 19 | 9 | 13 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 11 | 10 | 11 | 44 |
| 5 | Kashima Antlers | 25 | 12 | 6 | 7 | 35 | 22 | 12 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 18 | 11 | 13 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 17 | 11 | 13 | 42 |
| 6 | Cerezo Osaka | 25 | 13 | 3 | 9 | 35 | 26 | 13 | 7 | 1 | 5 | 18 | 13 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 17 | 13 | 9 | 42 |
| 7 | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | 25 | 11 | 5 | 9 | 29 | 25 | 13 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 18 | 12 | 12 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 11 | 13 | 4 | 38 |
| 8 | Avispa Fukuoka | 25 | 10 | 5 | 10 | 24 | 29 | 13 | 7 | 2 | 4 | 14 | 13 | 12 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 10 | 16 | -5 | 35 |
| 9 | Kawasaki Frontale | 25 | 9 | 6 | 10 | 34 | 33 | 12 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 16 | 13 | 13 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 18 | 20 | 1 | 33 |
| 10 | Tokyo | 25 | 9 | 6 | 10 | 32 | 35 | 12 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 22 | 15 | 13 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 10 | 20 | -3 | 33 |
| 11 | Gamba Osaka | 25 | 9 | 6 | 10 | 35 | 42 | 12 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 19 | 14 | 13 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 16 | 28 | -7 | 33 |
| 12 | Sagan Tosu | 25 | 8 | 7 | 10 | 32 | 31 | 13 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 14 | 18 | 12 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 18 | 13 | 1 | 31 |
| 13 | Consadole Sapporo | 25 | 7 | 8 | 10 | 44 | 49 | 11 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 18 | 20 | 14 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 26 | 29 | -5 | 29 |
| 14 | Kyoto Sanga | 25 | 9 | 2 | 14 | 29 | 34 | 13 | 6 | 0 | 7 | 15 | 16 | 12 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 14 | 18 | -5 | 29 |
| 15 | Albirex Niigata | 25 | 7 | 7 | 11 | 25 | 34 | 12 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 15 | 19 | 13 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 15 | -9 | 28 |
| 16 | Yokohama | 25 | 5 | 6 | 14 | 21 | 45 | 14 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 14 | 21 | 11 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 24 | -24 | 21 |
| 17 | Kashiwa Reysol | 25 | 3 | 11 | 11 | 21 | 35 | 13 | 1 | 8 | 4 | 12 | 19 | 12 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 9 | 16 | -14 | 20 |
| 18 | Shonan Bellmare | 25 | 3 | 8 | 14 | 30 | 49 | 12 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 13 | 24 | 13 | 1 | 5 | 7 | 17 | 25 | -19 | 17 |
