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J-League table-toppers FC Tokyo travel north to Vegalta Sendai, currently sitting fourth from bottom, this Sunday evening in a match that would see the leaders add to their 5-point lead over current champions Kawasaki Frontale and 3-point lead over Yokohama FM.
Current standings alone would suggest that the visitors are likely to take home all three points. However, the recent history between the two sides indicates that the capital city club have to be at the top of their game for this fixture. Last season Sendai won both at home and away. In this season`s J-League Cup group stages, they have also won one and drawn one against the league leaders.
FC Tokyo are still feeling the effects of losing a key player to Europe`s elite. Last weekend Takefusa Kubo announced his intention to join Real Madrid and looks set to join them after his spell with the Japanese national team at Copa America in Brazil. Tokyo are now faced with the difficult task of replacing that flair and creativity that contributed to many crucial goals that have helped them achieve league standing.
The red and blues are coming off the back of a narrow defeat to Vissel Kobe last weekend. Andres Iniesta`s pinpoint strike in the 49th minute was enough to seal the deal for the Kansai based team. Tokyo mustered up enough chances to win the game but lacked the clinical finishing to put a single one away.
Earlier this week, Tokyo managed a 1-0 win in the J-League Cup against a weakened Cerezo Osaka. Pacey front man Kensuke Nagai returned from an injury picked up while away on international duty and proved to be the deciding factor heading home just before half time. He is likely to partner birthday boy Diego Oliveira up front on Sunday.
The burning issue for FC Tokyo is how they will go about replacing game maker Takefusa Kubo. Last weekend, manager Kenta Hasegawa went with Kotaro Omori who is a somewhat limited player in attack, to say the least. During the week, Korean international Na Sangho was given the nod and offered a much more aggressive threat to the opponent`s defense. This would suggest that he may be the short-term solution at least.
Vegalta Sendai come into the game on great form after winning their last 4 league matches at home. They currently sit in 15th place but are rapidly climbing up the table after spending the early stages of the season in and around the relegation area.
Vegalta are likely to go with a 4-4-2 formation with Shun Nagasawa and talisman Naoki Ishihara as the striking partnership. with the former netting 4 goals so far this season and the latter playing as more of a target man, holding up play and bringing others into the game.
Both teams generally favor a counter-attacking, reactive approach. Typically this results in a low scoring affair which is reflected in the past few meetings between the clubs. Sunday`s meeting is likely to conclude in a similar fashion with a single goal likely to swing the game either way.
