📏 Form Guide

Sanfrecce Hiroshima

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Sanfrecce Hiroshima will be wanting a better result here after the 1-0 J1 League defeat last time out to Urawa Red Diamonds.

In that game, Sanfrecce Hiroshima had 54% possession and 11 shots on goal with 2 of them on target. For their opponents, Urawa Red Diamonds got 9 attempts on goal with 5 on target. Takuro Kaneko (57') scored for Urawa Red Diamonds.

Sanfrecce Hiroshima have struggled with their forward play of late. Their sum of goals equals just 4 versus opponents during their previous 6 matches. In those meetings, Sanfrecce Hiroshima have also seen the number of goals against them total 6. It will be interesting to see if that trend can be continued on into this next match.

Their prior results show that Sanfrecce Hiroshima:

• have not lost a league tie with Albirex Niigata in their last 2 matches.
• have not emerged victorious against Albirex Niigata in their previous 6 league matches.

Albirex Niigata

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Last time out, Albirex Niigata drew 1-1 in the J1 League tie with Kashiwa Reysol.

In that game, Albirex Niigata managed 41% possession and 13 attempts on goal with 2 on target. The only player to score for Albirex Niigata was Yota Komi (14'). At the other end, Kashiwa Reysol got 11 attempts on goal with 6 on target. Masaki Watai (32') scored for Kashiwa Reysol.

A run of accomplished showings by the Albirex Niigata defenders has seen the number of goals they’ve conceded amounting to 4 from their previous 6 clashes overall. In that time, the number of goals that they have scored themselves is 5.

Looking at the pre-match facts, Albirex Niigata:

• are undefeated by Sanfrecce Hiroshima in away games against them for the last 3 league games.
• haven't been defeated in their previous 2 away league matches.

👥 Head to head

Looking over their past head to head clashes dating back to 25/02/2017 shows that Sanfrecce Hiroshima have won 0 of them and Albirex Niigata 2, with the tally of drawn games being 4.

11 goals were yielded between them in this period, with 4 of them from Sanfrecce and 7 coming from Albirex. That’s an average goals per game figure of 1.83.

The previous league clash between these sides was J1 League match day 20 on 26/06/2024 when it ended Sanfrecce Hiroshima 1-1 Albirex Niigata.

In that match, Sanfrecce Hiroshima managed 37% possession and 23 attempts at goal with 7 of them on target. Their only player on the scoresheet was Pieros Sotiriou (27').

Albirex Niigata got 7 shots at goal with 1 of them on target. Kaito Taniguchi (11') scored.

The referee was Futoshi Nakamura.

📋 Team News: Sanfrecce Hiroshima

Goro Kawanami (Hand injury) and Tolgay Arslan (Knee injury) won’t be available for Sanfrecce Hiroshima gaffer Michael Skibbe.

It looks as if Sanfrecce look set to employ a 4-4-2 formation this time, handing starts to Keisuke Osako, Tsukasa Shiotani, Hayato Araki, Sho Sasaki, Sota Nakamura, Satoshi Tanaka, Shion Inoue, Daiki Suga, Hayao Kawabe, Mutsuki Kato and Ryo Germain.

📋 Team News: Albirex Niigata

We’re of the thinking that Albirex Niigata seem most likely to make use of a 4-4-2 formation, giving starts to Daisuke Yoshimitsu, Soya Fujiwara, M. James Fitzgerald, Hayato Inamura, Kento Hashimoto, Yota Komi, Taiki Arai, Yuji Hoshi, Jin Okumura, Yuji Ono and Keisuke Kasai.

💭 Prediction

We envisage that Sanfrecce Hiroshima should have the majority of the possession and should be able to turn a few of their chances into goals.

In contrast, Albirex Niigata may well find it hard to get shooting opportunities but we do think it’s quite likely that they will be converting at least once as well.

We therefore think that it’s going to be a pretty comfortable 3-1 winning score for Sanfrecce Hiroshima at full-time.

Peter Guest, 04:10 29/04/2025