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!