Perhaps a welcome break from league football as Sanfrecce Hiroshima & Shimizu S-Pulse face off to decide who makes it to next stage of the Ybc Levain Cup. All the pre-match information is available here!
Both teams should be fairly well rested for this game, as they have had some quiet days to prepare. Hopefully this will translate into lots of action on the pitch.
Sanfrecce Hiroshima form and stats
Sanfrecce participated in Ybc Levain Cup the last season, where they reached the group stage.Sanfrecce Hiroshima have played three J-League home games so far, perhaps enough to set expectations for the season. In that case, only 2 points from these matches could be a signal of rough times ahead.
The Sanfrecce Hiroshima fans got no joy from their last match, also played here at EDION Stadium: A 0-2 defeat against Kawasaki Frontale. Araki was "man of the match" with a rating of 7.35 out of 10. The defender Araki won 12 of 17 duels.
Prior to that, an away loss at Tokyo in the J-League.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 Sanfrecce have performed under similar circumstances, so here are some numbers: When modest favourites like this (we found 18 games) they have won two times, drawn nine and lost seven.
Sanfrecce Hiroshima have scored 1 goal here in 3 league matches, a depressing statistic.
Shimizu S-Pulse form and stats
They also participated in Ybc Levain Cup last season. This ended in the play-offs, when Kashima Antlers drew the shortest straw.Shimizu S-Pulse are doing rather OK so far in their away games in the J-League, having played 2 games and collected 3 points (1 win, 0 draws and 1 loss).
Shimizu's last game ended in a draw, the home match versus Vissel Kobe that finished 0-0. Gonda was the team player of the game with the player rating of 8.25. The agile goalkeeper Gonda topped it up with a clean sheet.
A 1-3 loss hosting Cerezo Osaka before that.We have checked recent matches where Shimizu S-Pulse have had similar odds to win. Win-draw-lose statistics from those 14 games were three victories, three draws and eight defeats.
It's early days yet, but Shimizu S-Pulse has scored 2 and conceded 3 goals from their travels in the league so far (2 games).
Head 2 Head
H2H stats regardless of arena (last ten matches): Sanfrecce Hiroshima six wins, two draws and Shimizu S-Pulse two victories. As for goals, four matches ended with three or more goals (over 2,5), six games had two or less.Top Goalscorers
  Y. Suzuki 2 goals |  S. Sasaki 1 goals | T. Morishima 1 goals |
Sanfrecce Hiroshima missing players
Shimizu S-Pulse missing players
| Sanfrecce Hiroshima | Shimizu S-Pulse | ||||||
| Total | Home | Statistics | Stat | Away | Total | ||
| 25 | 14 | Played | P | 11 | 25 | ||
| 7 | 3 | Won | W | 3 | 6 | ||
| 8 | 5 | Drew | D | 3 | 8 | ||
| 10 | 6 | Lost | L | 5 | 11 | ||
| 29 | 14 | Scored | S | 9 | 21 | ||
| 28 | 18 | Conceded | C | 15 | 36 | ||
| 92% | 93% | Over 0.5 | O 0.5 | 91% | 92% | ||
| 72% | 71% | Over 1.5 | O 1.5 | 73% | 72% | ||
| 32% | 29% | Over 2.5 | O 2.5 | 45% | 44% | ||
| 16% | 21% | Over 3.5 | O 3.5 | 9% | 20% | ||
| 12% | 14% | Over 4.5 | O 4.5 | 0% | 0% | ||
| 48% | 57% | BTTS | BTTS | 55% | 52% | ||
| 28% | 21% | Clean Sheets | C S | 18% | 16% | ||
| 32% | 29% | Failed to Score | F T | 36% | 40% | ||
| 3.9 | 4 | Corners for (avg) | C F | 3.8 | 4.4 | ||
| 4.4 | 5.3 | Corners against (avg) | C A | 5.5 | 5 | ||
| 1 | 0.8 | Yellow cards (avg) | Y C | 0.6 | 0.7 | ||
| 2 | 1 | Red cards | R C | 0 | 1 | ||
| 10.1 | 10.1 | Shots (avg) | S ( | 8.4 | 10 | ||
| 3.8 | 4.2 | Shots on Target (avg) | S O | 3.2 | 3.9 | ||
| 31% | 24% | Goal Efficiency | G E | 26% | 22% | ||
| 10 | 8.4 | Shots against (avg) | S A | 13.1 | 12.3 | ||
| 3.8 | 3.2 | Shots on Target against (avg) | S O | 5.4 | 4.7 | ||
| Total | Home | Away | |||||||||||||||||||
| # | Team | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | +/- | P |
| 1 | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 6 |
| 2 | Shimizu S-Pulse | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 3 | Nagoya Grampus | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | -2 | 1 |
| 4 | Tokushima Vortis | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | -3 | 1 |
| 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 | 7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 16 |
| 2 | Yokohama F. Marinos | 7 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 12 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 12 |
| 3 | Kashima Antlers | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 12 |
| 4 | Kashiwa Reysol | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 10 |
| 5 | Tokyo | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 9 |
| 6 | Urawa Reds | 7 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 9 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 7 |
| 7 | Sagan Tosu | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 |
| 8 | Cerezo Osaka | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 8 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 6 |
| 9 | Avispa Fukuoka | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 |
| 10 | Nagoya Grampus | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| 11 | Consadole Sapporo | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 5 |
| 12 | Júbilo Iwata | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 6 | -1 | 5 |
| 13 | Gamba Osaka | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | -2 | 5 |
| 14 | Kyoto Sanga | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | -3 | 5 |
| 15 | Shimizu S-Pulse | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | -3 | 5 |
| 16 | Vissel Kobe | 7 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 7 | -6 | 4 |
| 17 | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | 5 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | -3 | 3 |
| 18 | Shonan Bellmare | 5 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 | -5 | 2 |
