J-League preview: Can Yokohama F. Marinos edge out victory against Kashima Antlers?

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 Yokohama and Kashima Antlers.

Yokohama F. Marinos form and stats

Home games in the J-League have been a walk in the park for Yokohama F. Marinos so far, with 36 points won from 14 matches; 11 wins, 3 draws and 0 losses. Yokohama has a nice streak going on as they have played 13 consecutive leaguegames without losing (regardless of home/away). They are keen to extend their tally, a streak that began after the Kashima Antlers defeat 105 days ago.

Nothing to worry about in defence for Yokohama F. Marinos, as their goalkeeper Yohei Takaoka has completely shut out the opponents for 231 minutes in the J-League.

A good away victory last time out for Yokohama F. Marinos, who won 4-0 against Sagan Tosu (placed 6th). Ken Matsubara, defender, was given a rating of 8.13/10 in that game, top of the team. Matsubara served one assist, hit three key passes and won 1 of 3 duels. As mentioned above, Yokohama F. Marinos "killed" Sagan Tosu in their previous game. They need to reset completely for this one and beware of complacency.

Ahead of that match, Yokohama won a home game hosting Vegalta Sendai (5-0).

The home team are moderate favourites in this game. How does Yokohama handle that role? We have found eleven games in our database similar to this one, based on the home odds. The stats for these games are six wins, one draw and four defeats.

Yokohama F. Marinos are an "over 2,5 goals" team alone here at Nissan Stadium in their league games, having scored an impressive 35 goals in 14 matches. As for guarding their own goal, Yokohama have only let in 7 goals at home.

Kashima Antlers form and stats

6-2-6 is the win-draw-loss statistic for Kashima Antlers in their J-League matches away.

Kashima play their second away game in a row, but can be confident going into this one after the 4-0 victory visiting Shimizu S-Pulse (placed 16th). Midfield player Kento Misao was the top player of the team with a match rating of 8.12/10. Misao had 40 successful passes (of 47 total). As mentioned above, Kashima Antlers was the only team on the pitch versus Shimizu S-Pulse in their previous game, winning 4-0. This could be a tougher task.

Preceding that game, the 0-1 loss visiting Vissel Kobe's place.

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

Kashima Antlers have another fixture that requires travelling in just four days, a Nabisco Cup match against Nagoya Grampus. A strenuous timetable for the visiting team!

Kashima have scored 19 goals on their travels this season, from 14 away games in the league. It's not easy to score on Kashima Antlers as they have only conceded 13 goals from these away games.

Head 2 Head

Here's the end result when the crews met previously this campaign; Kashima Antlers - Yokohama 5-3. H2H stats regardless of arena (last ten matches): Yokohama F. Marinos three wins, one draw and Kashima Antlers six victories. As for goals, nine matches ended with three or more goals (over 2,5), one game had two or less.

Top Goalscorers

D. Maeda 14 goals

L. de Sousa Pereira 8 goals

R. Araki 8 goals

Yokohama F. Marinos missing players

Kashima Antlers missing players