Sagan Tosu vs Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo

High-flying Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo head to the Ekimae Real Estate Stadium to meet perennial mid-table J1 League tenants Sagan Tosu.

Sagan Tosu seem hellbent on bettering last season’s disappointing 11th-place finish on the back of an indifferent J1 League start (W6, D4, L6), as evidenced by their five-game unbeaten league form in the lead-up to this fixture (W3, D2). But manager Kenta Kawai wouldn’t mind a more consistent Tosu side after seeing his men alternate between victories and draws during that five-match stretch. Playing on home turf would normally boost such hopes, yet Tosu’s underwhelming win ratio of 37.5% across their opening eight home league outings (W3, D2, L3) doesn’t offer much enthusiasm. However, back-to-back H2H home wins ‘to nil,’ including a scintillating 5-0 victory in this corresponding fixture last season, could settle the nerves in the home camp. Moreover, they thrashed Tegevajaro Miyazaki 5-1 in midweek Emperor’s Cup action to increase their confidence ahead of this match-up.

Like their hosts, Consadole Sapporo thrived in the Emperor’s Cup, dismantling lower-league Sagamihara 3-0 a few days after a goal-glutted 5-4 top-flight victory at Kashiwa Reysol. Interestingly, that triumph bookended an impressive three-game winning league streak on the road, during which they failed to keep a clean sheet. However, Mihailo Petrovic’s men scored almost at will in that sequence, bagging 4+ goals on each occasion to suggest two consecutive visits to Tosu without finding the net (D1, L1) won’t bother them much. But a slow start might, considering they’ve lost four out of five league matches after conceding the opener (W1).