Urawa Reds vs Nagoya Grampus

Saitama Stadium is the venue as Urawa Reds and Nagoya Grampus go head-to-head in an exciting J1 League encounter.

A narrow 1-0 home victory over Fukushima in midweek Emperor’s Cup action arrested Urawa Reds’ six-match winless streak in the post-Asian Champions League period (D5, L1). Yet, eight of Urawa’s last nine J1 League matches have ended level (L1), highlighting the potential for another tight, keenly-contested affair. Indeed, Urawa’s four previous home league fixtures have all yielded draws, which was the case in their most recent home meeting with Nagoya. Ricardo Rodriguez’s men can draw confidence from going unbeaten in five of their six previous top-flight H2Hs at home (W3, D2, L1). However, they are winless in their last three such encounters, conceding 2+ goals in two of them.

On the other hand, Nagoya Grampus have strung three domestic victories since a 1-0 J1 League defeat to Sanfrecce Hiroshima, netting eight goals while conceding one in return. That reverse against Hiroshima snapped Nagoya’s eye-catching streak of three consecutive league triumphs, all of which came ‘to nil’ and two seeing the ‘Grampus’ keep a clean sheet. Conceding first could prove detrimental to the visitors’ hopes of winning, as they’ve lost all three away league games in which they fell behind this term. Adding to this sentiment, Kenta Hasegawa’s men have netted a measly average of 0.62 goals per away league match this season.