📏 Form Guide

Sagan Tosu

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Sagan Tosu will be looking for an improved result here following a 3-1 J1 League loss in their previous game against Machida Zelvia.

In that match, Sagan Tosu managed 62% possession and 11 shots at goal with 4 of them on target. The only player to score for Sagan Tosu was Marcelo Ryan (34'). For their opponents, Machida Zelvia got 17 attempts at goal with 6 on target. Kazuki Fujimoto (5') and Se-hun Oh (54', 57') scored for Machida Zelvia.

It has been a rare occasion in recent times that Sagan Tosu haven’t conceded. It will be a concern for them that Sagan Tosu have seen their defence breached in 5 of their previous 6 clashes, leaking 12 goals on the way.

Coming into this meeting, Sagan Tosu are winless against Vissel Kobe in their last 12 matches in the league.

Vissel Kobe

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Vissel Kobe go into this game after a 6-1 J1 League win to defeat Consadole Sapporo in their most recent fixture.

In that match, Vissel Kobe had 38% possession and 25 attempts at goal with 12 on target. For Vissel Kobe, the scorers were Yuya Osako (8'), Taisei Miyashiro (24', 49'), Yoshinori Muto (43', 95'), Tetsushi Yamakawa (72') and Yōsuke Ideguchi (73' Own goal). Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo had 5 attempts on goal with 0 on target.

A series of effective performances by the Vissel Kobe defenders has seen the number of goals they’ve conceded amounting to 4 from their past 6 clashes combined. During the same period of time, their own forwards have managed to score 10. We will find out whether or not that trend will be continued on in this game.

Their prior results show that Vissel Kobe:

• remain undefeated by Sagan Tosu when they have played them away from home in the previous 6 league matches. A very decent away record against them.
• are undefeated in their last 6 away league matches.

🤜🤛 Head to head

A review of their past head to head results stretching back to 30/05/2021 reveals that these fixtures have not been fruitful for Sagan Tosu. They’ve not been able to get any wins at all whereas Vissel Kobe have dominated them, winning in 83 per cent of those matches played.

A total of 14 goals were yielded between them during those clashes, with 2 of them from Sagan Tosu and 12 for Ushi. That’s an average goals per game of 2.33.

The last league fixture between these sides was J1 League match day 21 on 16/07/2023 when the final score was Vissel Kobe 2-1 Sagan Tosu.

In that match, Vissel Kobe managed 54% possession and 13 attempts at goal with 4 of them on target. The goalscorers were Yuya Osako (53') and Jean Patric (82').

Sagan Tosu got 8 shots at goal with 3 of them on target. Cayman Togashi (51') was the scorer.

The match was refereed by Futoshi Nakamura.

📰 Team News: Sagan Tosu

Yoshiki Narahara (Cruciate ligament injury) and Fuchi Honda (Tear of the lateral meniscus) won’t be playing for Sagan Tosu gaffer Kenta Kawai.

It seems likely that Sagan Tosu should opt for a 4-2-3-1 formation, utilising Il-Kyu Park, Wataru Harada, Kosuke Yamazaki, Tae-Hyeon Kim, Yusuke Maruhashi, Akito Fukuta, So Kawahara, Yoichi Naganuma, Yuki Horigome, Taichi Kikuchi and Cayman Togashi.

ℹ️ Team News: Vissel Kobe

Vissel Kobe boss Takayuki Yoshida has some current player fitness concerns. Haruya Ide (Hamstring injury), Koya Yuruki (Broken collarbone) and Mitsuki Saito (Torn lateral knee ligament) are names that won’t be on the team sheet.

We reckon that Ushi will likely elect for a 4-1-2-3 system, settling for Daiya Maekawa, Gotoku Sakai, Tetsushi Yamakawa, Matheus Thuler, Ryo Hatsuse, Takahiro Ogihara, Hotaru Yamaguchi, Taisei Miyashiro, Yoshinori Muto, Yuya Osako and Rikuto Hirose.

💡 Prediction

We feel that over the course of the game, Sagan Tosu could find themselves up against it to break down this Vissel Kobe lineup who we reckon should score & stay on top.

We’re therefore tipping a very competitive game with a 0-1 winning margin for Vissel Kobe after 90 minutes.

Let’s see what happens.

Our expert partners are tipping over 1.5 goals for this match. Check out their VIP predictions here.

Lucas Pereira, 09:11 03/04/2024