Urawa Red Diamonds will host an unbeaten Albirex Niigata side in the J1 League. The hosts made a poor start to the season and lost their first two games. They then made a comeback and won back-to-back games. Albirex Niigata, on the other hand, have won two and drawn the other two matches. As one team looks to maintain its unbeaten run and the other looks to make it three wins in a row, we look at some of the stats that could predict the outcome of the match.
Can Urawa Reds win three games in a row?
Urawa Reds managed to win their previous two matches by a marrow margin. They won their last game 1-0 and the game before that by a scoreline of 2-1. Urawa Red Diamonds average 26.5 positional attacks and one counterattack per match. They take 8.5 shots and have a low accuracy rate of 23.5%. The team has struggled in the attack. Urawa Reds have created fewer attacks and attempted less than ten shots per game. With only three goals and an average xG rate of 0.89, the team has a huge task in hand hong into this crucial game. They need to show more creativity and accuracy in the attack.
Urawa Red Diamonds have the ability to make high recoveries. The above viz shows that most of these regains have been made in the final third, and eight recoveries have been dangerous. The home team will look to capitalise on this and turn these recoveries into a goal.
Albirex Niigata’s threat on the counter
Urawa Red Diamonds will have to deal with the counterattacking threat that Niigata possesses. This season they have the best efficiency in counterattacks. Albirex Niigata only averages 20.75 positional attacks per match. They have created four counterattacks on average and take shots 68.6% of the time. Urawa Reds, on the other hand, have the lowest efficiency on the counters.
Albirex Niigata players take 10.25 shots on average and manage to hit the target 46.3% of the time. They scored three goals from outside the box and two from inside it. A high accuracy rate is one of the reasons behind this early season success.
The visitors like to create their plays from the centre. The above viz shows the progressive passes made by Niigata. It can be observed that most of the box penetration carries have come from the centre. They will look to find spaces in the midfield and break the opposition defence.
Key player
Ryotaro Ito will look to score in three league games in a row. The attacking midfielder has netted two goals, and both came from outside the penalty box. He has the responsibility to take his side over the line in this match.
Betting analysis
According to the 1×2 betting odds, Urawa Red Diamonds are the favourites to take three points from this game. They have an odds rate of 1.83 to win the match. Albirex Niigata are unbeaten in the league this season. They have a high odds rate of 4.2 to win the match. As per the over/under lines, the under lines are expected to thrive in this match.
Urawa Reds might be the favourites but Niigata have been the better team this season. They have created more chances and will look to remain the only unbeaten team in the league.
Visuals via TFA data viz engine
