Preview: Tokyo Verdy vs Kashiwa Reysol - prediction, team news, lineups

Tokyo Verdy will be aiming to stretch their unbeaten run in the J1 League to three matches when they continue their campaign with a contest against Kashiwa Reysol on Sunday.

The home side are 13th in the J1 League table, picking up 24 points from their 19 league games this term, while Kashiwa are up in fourth, boasting 34 points from their 19 fixtures.

Match preview

Tokyo Verdy finished sixth in Japan's top flight last season after securing promotion from the second tier, but they have struggled for consistency in the early stages of this particular campaign.

Indeed, a record of six wins, six draws and seven defeats from their 19 matches left them down in 13th spot on 24 points.

Hiroshi Jofuku's side have picked up four points from their last two fixtures in J1 League, beating Kyoto before drawing 0-0 with Avispa last time out.

Finding the back of the net has been a real problem for the team during the current season, though, with just 13 goals in 19 matches making them the joint-lowest scorers in the division at this stage of proceedings.

As for Kashiwa, a strong campaign to date has seen them pick up 34 points from 19 matches courtesy of a record of nine wins, seven draws and three defeats, and they are up in fourth spot in the table.

Ricardo Rodriguez's side have actually only picked up one point from their last three league games, though, and they were beaten 3-1 at home by Vissel Kobe last time out.

Kashiwa also lost 2-0 to Toyo Uni in the Emperor Cup on June 11, so they will be bidding to return to winning ways in their clash with Tokyo Verdy this weekend.

The Gold and Blacks drew 0-0 with Tokyo Verdy in the last meeting between the two sides at the end of March, but they suffered a 3-2 defeat to the same side last August.

Tokyo Verdy J1 League form:

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Tokyo Verdy form (all competitions):

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Kashiwa Reysol J1 League form:

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Kashiwa Reysol form (all competitions):

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Team News

Tokyo Verdy will be without the services of Yuta Arai on Sunday due to injury, while centre-forward Goki Yamada is also expected to miss the contest due to a fitness problem.

The home side should have Yudai Kimura in their side, with the forward scoring four times this season.

Meanwhile, Kosuke Saito is fit after a knock and is set to feature in the final third of the field.

As for Kashiwa, Kohei Tezuka, Koki Kumasaka and Riki Harakawa are out of the match through injury.

Yuki Kakita has scored six times in 23 appearances this season, and there should be a spot in the final third of the field for the 27-year-old, while there is also set to be a starting role for Mao Hosoya.

Tokyo Verdy possible starting lineup:

Caldeira; Onaga, Arai, Taniguchi; Fukazawa, Tsunashima, Hirakawa, Morita; Kimura, Saito, Yamami

Kashiwa Reysol possible starting lineup:

Kojima; Kubo, Koyamatsu, Tanaka; Koga, Harada, Shirai, Yamada; Hosoya, Kakita, Koizumi

We say: Tokyo Verdy 1-2 Kashiwa Reysol

Kashiwa have been impressive this season, and although Tokyo Verdy have been in good form, we are backing the visitors to secure all three points this weekend.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.