Fresh off the back of a stunning victory over Premier League side Newcastle United, Yokohama F Marinos play host to Consadole Sapporo in round 25 of the Japanese J1 League on Wednesday.
Having snapped their run of nine consecutive league games without a win last time out, the Consa will journey to the Nissan Stadium with renewed confidence as they make a late charge to salvage their season.
Match preview
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Elber and Jun Amano found the back of the net on either side of half time at the Nissan Stadium as Yokohama F Marinos picked up a stunning 2-0 victory over Newcastle United in a mid-season friendly on Saturday.
This was in keeping with their impressive run of results back home, where John Hutchinson's men have won each of their last three domestic matches, scoring eight goals and conceding four across the three games.
Yokohama booked their spot in the round of 16 of the Emperor Cup on July 10, when they edged second-tier Mito Hollyhock on penalties, before claiming back-to-back league victories over Kashima Antlers and Machida Zelvia.
The Marinos' most recent defeat came on July 6, when they were thrashed 4-0 by Gamba Osaka at the Suita City Stadium courtesy of goals from Juan Alano, Dawhan, Issam Jebali and experienced forward Takashi Usami.
Yokohama have picked up nine wins from their 24 J1 League matches while losing 10 and claiming five draws to collect 32 points and sit 11th in the table but could move into eighth place with all three points on Wednesday.
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Consadole Sapporo, on the other hand, were spared their blushes last time out as they held on to see out a narrow 4-3 victory over Urawa Red Diamonds after conceding three goals in the final quarter of an hour.
After goals from Daihachi Okamura, Yoshiaki Komai and a brace from Musashi Suzuki put them in the driver's seat, the visitors had to see off a late comeback scare at the Saitama Stadium after Thiago Santana, Rio Nitta and Atsuki Ito scored in the final 15 minutes for Urawa Reds.
Prior to that, Consadole Sapporo breezed into the round of 16 of the Emperor Cup on July 10, when they picked up a dominant 6-2 victory over Montedio Yamagata at the ND Soft Stadium Yamagata, three days before playing out a 1-1 draw with Vissel Kobe.
Head coach Mihailo Petrovic will hope that the victory over Urawa can serve as a catalyst for a turnaround in the league, where they had failed to win any of their previous nine games, picking up one draw and losing eight since mid-May.
With a little under a third of the 2024 J1 League campaign left to go, Consadole Sapporo find themselves rooted to the bottom of the standings, having picked up just 15 points from their 24 matches so far.
While the Consa will be looking to secure back-to-back wins for the first time since May 2023 on Wednesday, they go up against an opposing side who are unbeaten in 14 of their last 20 encounters, claiming 10 wins and four draws since March 2008.
Consadole Sapporo also head into the midweek clash on a five-game winless run at the Nissan Stadium, losing four and claiming one draw, and have managed just one victory in their last 12 visits since April 2012.
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Team News
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With his strike against Newcastle, Amano now has four goal involvements in his last three matches and the 33-year-old midfielder should return to the starting XI on Wednesday.
That said, Hutchinson could name a midfield trio of Amano, Kota Watanabe and skipper Takuya Kida for the third consecutive league game, while Eduardo and Takumi Kamijima should form the centre-back pairing.
Anderson Lopes, who has 13 goals and three assists in 23 league appearances, should spearhead the Marinos' attack once again, alongside Yan Matheus and former Arsenal youngster Ryo Miyaichi.
Consadole Sapporo will have to cope without several players down the spine of the team as midfielder Kazuki Fukai and goalkeeper Shun Takagi are currently recuperating from cruciate ligament injuries.
Gun-hee Kim has been ruled out since coming off injured against Tokyo Verdy on June 2, while 26-year-old midfielder Supachok Sarachat is set to sit out his 10th consecutive game due to a hamstring.
Yokohama F Marinos possible starting lineup:
Ikura; Kato, Eduardo, Kamijima, Matsubara; Amano, Watanabe, Kida; Elber, Lopes, Matheus
Consadole Sapporo possible starting lineup:
Sugeno; Nakamura, Okamura, Takao; Asano, Suga, Osaki, Baba; Komai, Aoki, Suzuki
We say: Yokohama F Marinos 3-1 Consadole Sapporo
While Consadole Sapporo will be looking to pick up where they left off against Urawa, they are in for a tough 90 minutes against a well-drilled Yokohama side who have won their last four games. Buoyed by their impressive victory over Newcastle, we predict that Hutchinson's men will come away with another comfortable victory in front of their home supporters.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Joshua Ojele
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