GW 3 J1 League Preview - Draft (Patreon)

Full schedule of games coming up this wkend! There are 5 games on Saturday with the remaining 5 on Sunday.

Apologies - I have just returned to Japan after a 24hr+ journey and am feeling it! Will post the predicted lineups early morning Japan time (12hrs before the deadline).

This preview gives some key info on player condition and known info about players. Lots will drop tomorrow from press conferences and training notes.

Also, as I have now returned from my holidays, from next week, I will be posting more on strategy and analysis on the new specials. I didnt do a proper giveaway last month so will do an extra giveaway too

Any questions, give me a shout!

Fixtures

9 teams (Gamba, YFM, Shonan, Kyoto, Kashima, Hiroshima, Kashiwa, Sapporo, Kobe) also played midweek in the Emperors Cup. These teams will have less news available/more risk of rotation depending on who played on Wednesday.

J1 Table

Nakayama had a dream debut, scoring on his debut in Machida 4-0 win. They are 4 points ahead of inform Hiroshima who won again away to Nagoya.

Kashima, Gamba and Kobe all dropped points to lose ground on Machida.

Sapporo got their second win in 4 games as their performances improve. They still face a mountain to climb and are 11 points away from safety with games running out. Sagan are in freefall after losing a group of players and their manager. They have now lost 4 of their last 5.

Main Point

• Welton (Gamba), Someno (Verdy), Izumi (Nagoya), Takai(Kawasaki), Kaneko (Kyoto) are all suspended

• Hayashi and Matsumura (Verdy) , Tsukagawa (Kyoto) cant play due to contractual reasons

• We have seen lots of transfers in the last couple of weeks! Best place to see these are here

• Seko and Ominami (both Kawasaki) have been allowed to leave their clubs to complete transfers to europe clubs.

• Germain has been linked with a move to Blackburn but has distanced himself from the move and is available to start this GW

• YFM keeper situation remains unclear! Manager has said he want it to be competitive. So far they have taken it in turns. Popp played last week and Iikura played in the cup yesterday so Popp slight fav again if pattern continues! Neither have made mistakes yet but Popp is the longer term prospect.

• Muto left the field with an injury last week for Kobe. Has been seen in training though waiting for confirmation is fully fit

• JSR surprisingly missed last weeks game. Hasnt been seen in training yet and is big doubt

• With Izumi suspended, Tokumoto likely makes his debut for Nagoya. Manager has spoken positively about him this week.

• Okubo for Urawa is v likely out after spraining his ankle last week. Matsuo missed training with sickness earlier this week. Maeda is in full training and played a practice game.

• Hiroshima have won their last 5 games and the form team

• YFM have won 4 of their last 5 and improving performance under new gaffer

• Fukuoka are winless in 6, scoring just 4 goals in those games.

• Sagan have picked up just 1 point from a possible 15 in their last 5 games.

• FC Tokyo have picked up just 1 win in 7

Predicted Lineups

Important to note the %s used here. If no %, it means I see them as a starter and no known risks. For sorare, its about there scorer potential so check out KEY PLAYERS even subs have a way :)

When 75% or below - there is some risk involved. My main aim with these is to show where risk/potential DNPs are lurking.

I base these %s on info I read from various sources including comments from the manager and reading a lot of local Japanese news coverage/message boards. Saying that, there will always be unknowns including last minute injury/illness of a player etc.

Always do your own research when making picks. For SO5, it can make sense to take some calculated risks depending on the potential score and the rest of your team/prize pool.

SO5 Analysis

Best xG - Kobe (2.4 xG), Hiroshima (1.8xG)

Best Clean sheet chances -Kobe (44%), Gamba (43%)

Best Stack - Kobe, Hiroshima

Kobe have the stand out fixture in the league and also within the Contender division. Sagan are in awful form and have lost a number of key players. They also lost top scorer Ryan to injury last week and is v likely out. Kobe themselves have been in mixed form, however this is a lovely fixture.

Gamba are also in mixed form with 3 draws in a row. They face an out of form Fukuoka side and I fancy a Gamba win with a CS. Fukuoka have only scored 4 goals in their last 6 games and have scored the least goals of any team in the league this season!

Hiroshima are flying and playing great. At home, Sanfreece are hard to break down and since signing Kawabe and Arslan are more compact in midfield helping their CS chances.

Players I like this GW are - Usami, Tanaka, Elber, Nakatani, Ichimori, Tanaka, Sasaki, Min Tae