FC Yokohama are at the bottom of the league table and have not won a single match in their first 10 games of the season after losing 1-4 at home to Gonzaga Sapporo last weekend. They continue to have problems with their midfield and defense being too far apart, failing to minimize openings in the midfield and failing to press the opposing team's ball-carrying players.
However, they have a number of good players in front of the ball, and I expect to see Azuma Yamashita use his explosive power to help the team create threats in front of the ball. The Niigata Swans have only won 1 of their last 6 matches in the league after being beaten 1-2 by FC Tokyo on Saturday.
I think they still need to improve their defensive performance, because the level of Nippon Professional is much higher than that of JGB, whenever the team is in possession of the ball, it seems that the opponents will always make a counter-attack and get the ball, so they need to improve the level of attacking and defensive transitions.
FC Yokohama tends to struggle against teams that are good at attacking from the wings, so I expect Niigata Swan's Shunsuke Mito and Shusuke Ota to pose a problem on the flanks this game.
