Kawasaki Frontale vs Beijing Guoan

Kawasaki Frontale will be looking to complete their AFC Champions League group stage campaign with all six wins when they take on Beijing Guoan at the Lokomotiv Stadium.

A comfortable 3-1 away win over Daegu last time out maintained Kawasaki’s 100% start to their Champions League campaign, with the Japanese juggernauts returning a resounding +20 goal difference from five group stage victories (GF:23, GA:3). Particularly dangerous beyond half-time, Toru Oniki’s men have netted 2+ second-half goals in four of their five Group I matches, including a 7-0 victory over Beijing in the reverse fixture on Matchday 2. Kawasaki have been relentless at home since the turn of the calendar year, going unbeaten in all 18 competitive games on home turf in 2021 (W15, D3). Virtually unstoppable in the front third, they have netted 2+ goals in seven of their last eight home matches across all competitions, scoring 11 times in two Champions League group stage outings.

In the meantime, Beijing have suffered four consecutive group phase losses since being held to a 1-1 away draw to United City in their tournament curtain-raiser. Worryingly, Beijing conceded over 2.5 goals in each defeat during that four-game sequence, letting in 2+ second-half goals on each occasion. An underwhelming away form is another reason for concern among the Chinese camp. They’ve failed to win five of their last six away matches in all competitions (D1, L4), barring a 2-0 victory over domestic rivals Wuhan in early May. Scoring first could be of the essence, considering that each game won/lost in that spread of matches saw the winner on the day benefit from opening the scoring.