J-League preview: Can Sagan Tosu edge out victory against Vegalta Sendai?

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Competition: Japan J-League
Competition: Wed 10.March
Match begins: 10:00 (UTC)
Venue: Ekimae Real Estate Stadium

It's early days in the J-League and both Sagan Tosu and Vegalta Sendai are still hoping for a flying start in order to set the tone for the season. Three points can make a big difference at this stage.

It’s busy days for these teams as both were in action only a few days ago. There’s no rest for the wicked, or in this case; no rest for Sagan and Vegalta Sendai.

It's time to recharge all electronic entertainment devices for Vegalta Sendai, who are travelling more than 1400 kilometers to play this game.

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Sagan Tosu form and stats

The hosts won their first J-League game here at Ekimae Real Estate Stadium, lifting spirits. Home statistics for Sagan Tosu last season were 3 wins, 7 draws and 7 losses from 17 games.

The Sagan Tosu goalkeeper Il-Gyu Park is looking to record 90 more "clean sheet" minutes as his team have now played 192 minutes without conceding a goal in the J-League.

Prior to that was the away defeat visiting Kashima Antlers (0-3).

The hosts are modest favourites in this match, with the bookmakers estimating the chance of a home win at about 50% +- five percent. It's interesting to look at how Sagan Tosu have performed under similar circumstances, so here are some numbers: When modest favourites like this (we found two games) they have won one time, drawn one and lost zero.

The manager M. Kim will start preparations for the next game as soon this is finished, as the hosts are going to Shimizu S-Pulse in only four days.

It's still early days, but we have some goal stats for the Sagan Tosu at home in the league. 2 on target and 0 scored by the opposition; from 1 match.

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Vegalta Sendai form and stats

The visitors settled for one point in their first J-League away game of the season. During their previous season 17 away games resulted in 6 wins, 3 draws and 8 defeats.

Preceding that game, the 0-1 loss visiting Yokohama F. Marinos's place.

As you can see from the result above, the defeat against Kawasaki Frontale was particularly ugly (1-5). The humiliation is still top of mind.

Vegalta are the outsiders in this one, but not by much. Their performance in similar games (being the away team and moderate outsiders) is two wins, two draws and eight defeats. From a total of twelve matches.

The visitors will be packing their bags again in only three days as another away game awaits: The J-League trip to Shonan Bellmare.

It's early days yet, but Vegalta Sendai has scored 1 and conceded 1 goals from their travels in the league so far (1 game).

Head 2 Head

Head-to-head totals (for the last ten meetings): Sagan Tosu won three games, two matches ended with a draw and Vegalta Sendai has five wins. Over 2,5 goals / under 2,5 goals: six / four

Top Goalscorers

Sagan TosuK. Yamashita
K. Yamashita
2 goals
SaganD. Hayashi
D. Hayashi
1 goals
Vegalta SendaiS. Akasaki
S. Akasaki
1 goals

Sagan Tosu missing players

Vegalta Sendai missing players

Total First Half Second Half
Sagan Tosu Vegalta Sendai
Total Home vs low Statistics Stat vs top Away Total
2 1 1 Played P 0 1 2
2 1 1 Won W 0 0 0
0 0 0 Drew D 0 1 1
0 0 0 Lost L 0 0 1
3 2 2 Scored S 0 1 2
0 0 0 Conceded C 0 1 6
100% 100% 100% Over 0.5 O 0.5 0% 100% 100%
50% 100% 100% Over 1.5 O 1.5 0% 100% 100%
0% 0% 0% Over 2.5 O 2.5 0% 0% 50%
0% 0% 0% Over 3.5 O 3.5 0% 0% 50%
0% 0% 0% Over 4.5 O 4.5 0% 0% 50%
0% 0% 0% BTTS BTTS 0% 100% 100%
100% 100% 100% Clean Sheets C S 0% 0% 0%
0% 0% 0% Failed to Score F T 0% 0% 0%
 
0 0 0 Corners for (avg) C F 0 0 0
0 0 0 Corners against (avg) C A 0 0 0
2 2 2 Yellow cards (avg) Y C 0 0 1
0 0 0 Red cards R C 0 1 1
 
9.5 11 11 Shots (avg) S ( 0 5 5.5
4.5 4 4 Shots on Target (avg) S O 0 3 2
33% 50% 50% Goal Efficiency G E 0% 33% 50%
Sagan Tosu Last season Vegalta Sendai
Total Home   Statistics Stat   Away Total
34 17   Played P   17 34
7 3   Won W   6 6
15 7   Drew D   3 10
12 7   Lost L   8 18
37 17   Scored S   22 36
43 20   Conceded C   29 61
88% 88%   Over 0.5 O 0.5   100% 88%
76% 71%   Over 1.5 O 1.5   71% 71%
41% 41%   Over 2.5 O 2.5   53% 56%
18% 18%   Over 3.5 O 3.5   35% 38%
6% 0%   Over 4.5 O 4.5   24% 24%
53% 47%   BTTS BTTS   53% 53%
21% 24%   Clean Sheets C S   24% 24%
38% 41%   Failed to Score F T   24% 35%
 
0 0   Corners for (avg) C F   0 0
0 0   Corners against (avg) C A   0 0
0.7 0.7   Yellow cards (avg) Y C   1.1 1.2
1 0   Red cards R C   0 0
 
9.4 9.8   Shots (avg) S (   8.6 8.6
3.6 3.6   Shots on Target (avg) S O   2.8 3.2
31% 27%   Goal Efficiency G E   46% 33%

  Total Home Away  
# Team MP W D L F A MP W D L F A MP W D L F A +/- P
1 Kawasaki Frontale 3 3 0 0 10 3 2 2 0 0 5 2 1 1 0 0 5 1 7 9
2 Sagan Tosu 2 2 0 0 3 0 1 1 0 0 2 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 3 6
3 Nagoya Grampus 2 2 0 0 3 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 2 1 2 6
4 Shimizu S-Pulse 2 1 1 0 5 3 1 0 1 0 2 2 1 1 0 0 3 1 2 4
5 Tokyo 2 1 1 0 4 3 1 1 0 0 3 2 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 4
6 Oita Trinita 2 1 1 0 3 2 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 2 1 1 4
7 Vissel Kobe 2 1 1 0 2 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 4
8 Consadole Sapporo 2 1 0 1 5 2 1 1 0 0 5 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 3 3
9 Cerezo Osaka 3 1 0 2 6 6 1 1 0 0 2 0 2 0 0 2 4 6 0 3
10 Kashiwa Reysol 2 1 0 1 2 3 1 1 0 0 2 1 1 0 0 1 0 2 -1 3
11 Tokushima Vortis 2 0 2 0 2 2 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 2
12 Sanfrecce Hiroshima 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
13 Avispa Fukuoka 2 0 1 1 3 4 1 0 0 1 1 2 1 0 1 0 2 2 -1 1
14 Urawa Reds 2 0 1 1 1 3 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 2 -2 1
15 Vegalta Sendai 2 0 1 1 2 6 1 0 0 1 1 5 1 0 1 0 1 1 -4 1
16 Gamba Osaka 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 -1 0
17 Kashima Antlers 1 0 0 1 1 3 1 0 0 1 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 -2 0
18 Shonan Bellmare 2 0 0 2 1 3 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 2 -2 0
19 Yokohama F. Marinos 1 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 2 -2 0
20 Yokohama 2 0 0 2 2 7 1 0 0 1 1 2 1 0 0 1 1 5 -5 0
Last season Total Home Away  
# Team MP W D L F A MP W D L F A MP W D L F A +/- P
1 Kawasaki Frontale 34 26 5 3 88 31 17 15 1 1 48 15 17 11 4 2 40 16 57 83
2 Gamba Osaka 34 20 5 9 46 42 17 8 2 7 19 23 17 12 3 2 27 19 4 65
3 Nagoya Grampus 34 19 6 9 45 28 17 12 3 2 28 12 17 7 3 7 17 16 17 63
4 Cerezo Osaka 34 18 6 10 46 37 17 8 4 5 20 13 17 10 2 5 26 24 9 60
5 Kashima Antlers 34 18 5 11 55 44 17 8 5 4 27 22 17 10 0 7 28 22 11 59
6 Tokyo 34 17 6 11 47 42 17 10 0 7 23 22 17 7 6 4 24 20 5 57
7 Kashiwa Reysol 34 15 7 12 60 46 17 5 4 8 30 30 17 10 3 4 30 16 14 52
8 Sanfrecce Hiroshima 34 13 9 12 46 37 17 7 5 5 29 20 17 6 4 7 17 17 9 48
9 Yokohama F. Marinos 34 14 5 15 69 59 17 9 2 6 42 26 17 5 3 9 27 33 10 47
10 Urawa Reds 34 13 7 14 43 56 17 5 4 8 18 22 17 8 3 6 25 34 -13 46
11 Oita Trinita 34 11 10 13 36 45 17 5 5 7 12 19 17 6 5 6 24 26 -9 43
12 Consadole Sapporo 34 10 9 15 47 58 17 5 5 7 27 29 17 5 4 8 20 29 -11 39
13 Sagan Tosu 34 7 15 12 37 43 17 3 7 7 17 20 17 4 8 5 20 23 -6 36
14 Vissel Kobe 34 9 9 16 50 59 17 4 5 8 25 30 17 5 4 8 25 29 -9 36
15 Yokohama 34 9 6 19 38 60 17 6 2 9 22 32 17 3 4 10 16 28 -22 33
16 Shimizu S-Pulse 34 7 7 20 48 70 17 4 3 10 32 35 17 3 4 10 16 35 -22 28
17 Vegalta Sendai 34 6 10 18 36 61 17 0 7 10 14 32 17 6 3 8 22 29 -25 28
18 Shonan Bellmare 34 6 9 19 29 48 17 4 4 9 12 19 17 2 5 10 17 29 -19 27

Table
  Total Home Away  
# Team MP W D L F A MP W D L F A MP W D L F A +/- P
1 Kawasaki Frontale 3 3 0 0 10 3 2 2 0 0 5 2 1 1 0 0 5 1 7 9
2 Sagan Tosu 2 2 0 0 3 0 1 1 0 0 2 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 3 6
3 Nagoya Grampus 2 2 0 0 3 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 2 1 2 6
4 Shimizu S-Pulse 2 1 1 0 5 3 1 0 1 0 2 2 1 1 0 0 3 1 2 4
5 Tokyo 2 1 1 0 4 3 1 1 0 0 3 2 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 4
6 Oita Trinita 2 1 1 0 3 2 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 2 1 1 4
7 Vissel Kobe 2 1 1 0 2 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 4
8 Consadole Sapporo 2 1 0 1 5 2 1 1 0 0 5 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 3 3
9 Cerezo Osaka 3 1 0 2 6 6 1 1 0 0 2 0 2 0 0 2 4 6 0 3
10 Kashiwa Reysol 2 1 0 1 2 3 1 1 0 0 2 1 1 0 0 1 0 2 -1 3
11 Tokushima Vortis 2 0 2 0 2 2 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 2
12 Sanfrecce Hiroshima 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
13 Avispa Fukuoka 2 0 1 1 3 4 1 0 0 1 1 2 1 0 1 0 2 2 -1 1
14 Urawa Reds 2 0 1 1 1 3 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 2 -2 1
15 Vegalta Sendai 2 0 1 1 2 6 1 0 0 1 1 5 1 0 1 0 1 1 -4 1
16 Gamba Osaka 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 -1 0
17 Kashima Antlers 1 0 0 1 1 3 1 0 0 1 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 -2 0
18 Shonan Bellmare 2 0 0 2 1 3 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 2 -2 0
19 Yokohama F. Marinos 1 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 2 -2 0
20 Yokohama 2 0 0 2 2 7 1 0 0 1 1 2 1 0 0 1 1 5 -5 0

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