Albirex Niigata – DF Suzuki is with the Olympic team. DF Uchida out for the season. FW Suzuki out for three months. FW Michel is suspended.
Kashiwa Reysol – DF Fujita is expected to be out for at least another week.

Six wins for Reysol, three for Albirex and four draws with Niigata not winning since 2009.
Albirex Niigata have pulled up to 14th – all be it only one point from safety – on a two wins, two draws, four match unbeaten run, but have still scored only 12 goals all season. But they have a defence that is doing its job – they have conceded 20 goals less than Gamba Osaka, for example – so, continued strong defensive performances coupled with a few more goals will see their continued rise. But the likes of Yano and Hirai MUST score goals if this team is to survive.

Kashiwa Reysol have out together an incredible run after a bad start to the season and currently sit just four points off the top after a winning run that has only seen a recent home hiccup – a defeat by Nagoya Grampus three games back – in their race to the top three. The form of Kudo (a hat trick last week) and Sawa (hat trick against Gamba recently) is keeping recent national team selectee Junya Tanaka on the bench – not a bad thing to have depth in scoring. The division’s top scorers have 41 goals to their name. Expect more in this game, even against the tight defence of Albirex.

EXPECT a WIN for KASHIWA REYSOL!