Albirex Niigata and Jubilo Iwata square off on Wednesday in what is a crucial relegation clash in the J1 League.
While the home side sit in 15th place in the standings, the visitors - who are in the relegation zone - are just four points adrift.
Match preview
© Imago
Having failed to record back-to-back victories in the J1 League since April, Jubilo Iwata can probably count themselves fortunate that they are still within touching distance of moving outside of the bottom three.
Just three victories in 17 outings have been recorded during that period, the latest coming on June 26 when they got the better of mid-table Tokyo Verdy.
Akinobu Yokouchi's side have since lost their way again, accumulating just one point from the four matches that have followed, that being a 2-2 draw with 14th-placed Kawasaki Frontale.
In the three defeats, a total of 10 goals have been conceded, leaving Jubilo Iwata with the third-worst defensive record in the division.
Nevertheless, sitting just a point adrift of 16th place, Yokouchi will not be panicking at this stage, even though almost four months have passed since an away victory.
From the perspective of Albirex Niigata, this encounter represents an opportunity to keep on track in their bid to avoid the drop.
Although back-to-back defeats were recorded at the beginning of July, those are the only losses in eight games, with three wins and three draws being racked up.
Last time out, Rikizo Matsuhashi's side recorded an impressive 2-1 triumph away at sixth-placed Cerezo Osaka, extending a run of 11 points from their most recent six away fixtures.
However, at the Denka Big Swan Stadium, no win has been registered since the middle of May, a streak that they will be eager to end on Wednesday.
Team News
Despite the near three-week gap between fixtures, Albirex Niigata have an injury doubt in Yuji Ono after he was withdrawn during the latter stages against Cerezo Osaka.
Should the forward not take his place in the team, Kaito Taniguchi is likely to be drafted into the attack as his replacement.
Barring any other fitness issues, there is little reason for Matsuhashi to make any alterations to a winning team.
Jubilo Iwata will assess the fitness of Bruno Jose who went off injured in the second half against Kyoto Sanga on July 20.
Masaya Matsumoto is the obvious option to replace the right-midfielder should he be deemed unavailable, with the rest of the side potentially remaining unchanged.
Albirex Niigata possible starting lineup:
Abe; Fujiwara, Fitzgerald, Deng, Horigome; Matsuda, Akiyama, Miyamoto, Hasegawa; Nagakura, Taniguchi
Jubilo Iwata possible starting lineup:
Miura; Uemura, Suzuki, Ito, Matsubara; Matsumoto, Gomes, Uehara, Kaneko; Germain, Peixoto
We say: Albirex Niigata 1-1 Jubilo Iwata
With the stakes high ahead of this contest, we do not expect either side to be particularly attacking. There is an argument that they would each take a point if it was offered to them beforehand, leading us to back a low-scoring draw.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Darren Plant
