Cerezo Osaka host the struggling Urawa Reds at the Kincho Stadium in J1 League action on Wednesday.
The hosts secured a 3-1 win in the Osaka derby against their arch-rivals Gamba Osaka in their previous outing as they bounced back from a 1-0 loss at Nagoya Grampus.
The Urawa Reds have played out seven consecutive draws in league fixtures, which has seen them drop to 14th place in the league standings. They held Kashima Antlers to a 1-1 draw last time around.
Cerezo Osaka vs Urawa Red Head-to-Head
Urawa Reds have a long-standing rivalry with Cerezo's neighbors Gamba Osaka and have also faced the home side 111 times across all competitions thus far.
The Reds enjoy a 45-38 lead in wins, while 15 games in this fixture have ended in draws. The two sides met five times last season, twice in the league, twice in the J League Cup semi-finals, and also in the Emperor's Cup last four.
They were evenly matched in these games, with two wins for each side and one game ending in a draw. They last met in December in the Emperor's Cup semi-finals at the Saitama Stadium, with the Reds securing a 2-0 win. They went on to win the competition.
Cerezo Osaka form guide (all competitions): W-D-L-W-D
Urawa Red form guide (all competitions): D-D-D-D-W
Cerezo Osaka vs Urawa Red Team News
Cerezo Osaka
Sakura have no reported injuries or suspensions for the game and only Takashi Inui's involvement remains doubtful. He has fallen out of favor with the club management.
Injured: None
Doubtful: Takashi Inui
Suspended: None
Urawa Red
The visitors travel to Osaka without the services of Ayumu Ohata, Tomoya Inukai, and Hiroki Sakai, who remain sidelined with injuries.
Injury: Ayumu Ohata, Tomoya Inukai, Hiroki Sakai
Doubtful: None
Suspension: None
Cerezo Osaka vs Urawa Red Predicted XIs
Cerezo Osaka (4-4-2): Jin-Hyeon Kim (GK); Ryosuke Yamanaka, Matej Jonjić, Ryuya Nishio, Koji Toriumi; Hiroaki Okuno, Jean Patric, Hiroshi Kiyotake, Seiya Maikuma; Hirotaka Tameda, Adam Taggart
Urawa Reds (4-2-3-1): Shushaku Nishikawa (GK); Takuya Iwanami, Alexander Scholz, Takahiro Akimoto, Yuta Miyamoto; Atsuki Ito, Kai Shibato; Yoshio Koizumi, Takahiro Sekine, Yusuke Matsuo; Ataru Esaka
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Cerezo Osaka vs Urawa Red Prediction
The two sides have played out some high-scoring games in their recent outings, with the hosts scoring 10 goals in their last five games across all competitions and the Reds finding the back of the net nine times in the same period.
Given their previous head-to-head record and current form, the game should end in a high-scoring draw.
Prediction: Cerezo Osaka 2-2 Urawa Red