GW 472 J1 League Preview - DRAFT (Patreon)

Intro

We are in holiday season in Japan. Its "Golden Week" which is an annual holiday week and we get games at odd times too. This year the games include this Friday so a FULL list of games happening.

As we just had games on this weekend, very limited news available for the games on this Friday. As such, I will do the predicted lineups only tomorrow and this post will give some general thoughts to chew on

League Table

None of the top 4 teams won over the weekend!

Cerezo go top after picking up a point at home to a heavily rotated YFM

Hiroshima had a dominant first half but some slack defending meant they had to settle for a 2-2 draw vs Kawasaki

Kobe missed a penalty and a number of big chances but put in a mediocre performance in their local derby defeat to struggling to Kyoto

Sapporo remain bottom after letting a 3-0 lead slip to second bottom Shonan.

Its very tight from top to bottom! 11th placed Kashiwa could move up to 4th with their game in hand for example!!

Fixtures

The below are the fixtures coming up this GW:

Main Points

• Teams play Friday which is 3 days after the deadline = big risks of unknowns/training news.

• No players are suspended for the upcoming GW

• All teams play again again on Monday (GW372/wkend GW). As teams play on Friday, we will need to keep an eye out on those games to see a)lineups and b) potential suspensions or injuries! Lots to juggle I know :)

• YFM unsurprisingly rotated heavily over the weekend. Expect lots of rotation again with players like Lopes, Nagato and Yan vying to be back in the first X11. Watanabe and Kida are both back in full training and wanting to start.

Injury News

A few confirmed injuries from last couple of days and out for for upcoming GW

• Yamanaka (Nagoya)

• Akito Suzuki (Shonan)

• Capixaba (Cerezo) - Manager has said out for about a month

• JSR (Kawasaki) was injured in the warm up. No official news but atm Kamifukumoto likely to continue though not a situation I suggest trading into

• Kashif (FC Tokyo) doesnt have an injury imo. After watching the footage he was about to get subbed and landed awkwardly on his elbow but walked off fine.

• Okamura (Sapporo) in light training as of today. Wanting to play on Friday

SO5

• Smaller GW in contender and J1 league team are v competitive

• Kashima have the best win chance (53%). Generally a consistent team esp in defense so stacking here makes lots of sense

• Cerezo scoring at home also looks great. Fernandes and Ceara in particular are in amazing form.

Final

I will full lineup predictions and analysis tomorrow. I expect some, but no much info tomorrow. For these type of GWs in contender, there is less competition and prizes so I find it better to take more riskes with high ceiling players especially compared to wkend GWs.