Shimizu S-Pulse – MF Alex Brosque is suspended after red card. DF Yoshida and MF Muramatsu are on U23 duty with Japan.

Yokohama F.Marinos – FW Yuji Ono is suspended. MF/FW Manabu Saito is with the U23 team, presuming his injured ankle is recovered!

Seven wins for Marinos, five for S-Pulse and TEN draws over the last decade, in 22 meetings begs another draw? Four of those Marinos wins came in 2005 or before.

Both teams are depleted, with Shimizu S-Pulse (P12 W7 D1 L4 GD +4) missing Brosque and Muramatsu in particular from their midfield, but Saito and Ono will be big losses for Yokohama F.Marinos (P12 W4 D5 L3 GD +2), also. Marinos won four in a row before their 0-0 draw with Gamba Osaka last time out, while S-Pulse have faltered just when we thought they could hit the top spot. A draw with Cerezo and a loss to Reds in their last two games saw them drop five points that would have seen them level at the top of J1. S-Pulse coach Afshin Ghotbi will need to rally his troops and renew the confidence that they showed until recently. They’ll need a big game from Takagi and Omae to win this, but I think we can EXPECT a WIN for SHIMIZU S-PULSE!

Kawasaki Frontale – DFs Jeci and Komiyama out and one of the players who replaced them in defence also out injured now, Inamoto!

Vegalta Sendai – influential MF Sekiguchi destined to be out for one month.

In nine meetings over the last ten years Frontale have four wins to Sendai’s two, with three draws. Most recently, Kawasaki triumphed in the Nabisco Cup last month.

Kawasaki Frontale (P12 W6 D1 L5 GD -1) have lost at home twice – to Reysol and Sanfrecce – in their last five games, but won the other three. They are looking better, and scoring more goals than under Naoki Soma, who started the season coaching them, but Kazama Kawasaki need to be more clinical and tighter at the back to continue challenging for the top six.18 goals scored in 12 games is not that bad, but 19 conceded does not help in the long run!

Just when we thought the Vegalta Sendai (P12 W8 D3 L1 GD +16) juggernaut had come off the road – with a loss and two draws, they annihilated Nagoya Grampus last time out. Sekiguchi will be missed, but Akamine seems back to full fitness and the team has all round quality in all areas, especially a strong defence (nine goals conceded, best in the league along with, believe it or not, Sagan Tosu!) and will be expecting to take the points here. I fancy that we should EXPECT a DRAW!

14:00 Consadole Sapporo v. Sanfrecce Hiroshima at Atsubetsu Stadium – More Misery for Sapporo!

Consadole Sapporo – FW Maeda out for approximately three months.

The teams last met four times in 2003 when Consadole gained one draw, and we saw three wins for Hiroshima.

Consadole Sapporo (P12 W1 D1 L10 GD -17) have had a dire start to their return to J1 and do not seem to be staying long. A long list of irritating injuries does not help the team, and now we can add FW Maeda to a list of players out injured. AND Jade North is on duty with Australia, as well as the team missing U19 internationals FW Sakaki and MF Arano – what’s left of this team will struggle to keep out a buoyant Sanfrecce Hiroshima (P12 W7 D1 L4 GD +9). The away team have been inconsistent over last five games with a W L W L W record in that time, but they should have no problem with Consadole! EXPECT a WIN for SANFRECCE HIROSHIMA!

19:30 Nagoya Grampus v. Cerezo Osaka at Toyota Stadium – The Battle of Inconsistency!

Nagoya Grampus – MF Isomura is a long term injury absentee. Kennedy is NOT match fit!

Cerezo Osaka – MF Ogihara is away with the U-23 team in France. GK Kim and influential MF Kim are both with the Korean national Team!

Eight wins for Nagoya, four for Cerezo, and five draws, over 17 meetings in the last decade. All of Cerezo’s wins came pre-2006 and Nagoya have won four of the last five meetings between the teams.

As with the Gamba – Sagan match, this game is scheduled here to allow Nagoya to prepare for their Tuesday night ACL match. Nagoya Grampus (P11 W5 D2 L4 GD -1) are down in an unfamiliar 10th position after 11 games, although, if they win their game in hand those three points would take them into 7th. Nevertheless, it has been a difficult start to the campaign for a team that everyone expected to be challenging for the title this season. Of course, with a couple more wins under their belt they will be moving up and the confidence will return, so they must win games like this one. Having lost three of their last four games Grampus will be looking to get all the points in front of their fans.

Cerezo Osaka (P12 W4 D2 L6 GD 0) lost to Kashiwa Reysol last time out after going ahead and looking good to win it. Previously they let a lead slip in the final kick of the game to share points with S-Pulse, and lost at home to Vissel Kobe. Inconsistent, indeed! They’ll be missing Ogihara this week and Kiyotake also confirmed he will move to the Bundesliga after the Olympics, so the team will be weaker both mentally and physically today and I think we can EXPECT a WIN for NAGOYA GRAMPUS!

Gamba Osaka – DF Akira Kaji out for at least one month. MF Sasaki must be considered doubtful. DF Eduardo out with a broken leg, FW Kawanishi still out recovering from broken leg.

Sagan Tosu – MF Mizunuma is in France with the U23 team. MF Takahashi still out for another month.

This will be the first meeting between these two teams!

This match scheduled for Friday night to allow Gamba ample time to prepare for an expected ACL match the next Tuesday, but they did not qualify for the knockout stages, so now a Friday night inconvenience perhaps! Gamba Osaka (P11 W2 D3 L6 GD -9) have two draws in their last two matches but could really use some wins, being five points adrift of relegation safety already. Now that they are out of the ACL they can concentrate on rebuilding the team and consolidating their J1 position for next season.

Sagan Tosu (P4 D5 L3 GD +3) have not won in their last five games, losing last time out, and the four games before that all ended in draws. They are still unbeaten at home but are due for a loss away from home. Mizunuma will be a big loss for the away team, while Gamba Osaka are missing the experience of Kaji but it surely must be time to ease in a new right back, anyway, is Daiki Niwa that man? This must surely be the chance for Gamba’s new beginning and, if they don’t win this one, they will know that safety will get further away with over one third of the season gone. EXPECT a WIN for GAMBA OSAKA.