In their final J1 League game of the 2021-22 campaign, Nagoya Grampus invite Urawa Reds to Toyota Stadium on Saturday.
The game will just be a formality for the two sides. Kawasaki Frontale have won the league title and Vissel Kobe have secured a third-placed finish, securing a place in the AFC Champions League play-offs.
Nonetheless, both sides will be hoping to end their campaigns with a win having suffered a loss in their previous outing. Nagoya suffered a 2-1 loss in their game against Cerezo Osaka while Urawa Reds were defeated 1-0 at home by Shimizu S-Pulse.
Nagoya Grampus vs Urawa Reds Head-to-Head
There have been 82 meetings between the two sides across all competitions. They have been evenly matched in this fixture and the hosts have a 37-36 lead in wins. The spoils have been shared nine times in this fixture.
Their head-to-head record has been perfectly even in their last 14 games, with six wins for each side and two games ending in a draw. The hosts are unbeaten against the Reds since 2018.
They last squared off in the reverse fixture at Saitama Stadium in May with the game ending in a goalless draw.
Nagoya Grampus form guide (all competitions): L-W-D-W-W
Urawa Reds form guide (all competitions): L-W-L-D-W
Nagoya Grampus vs Urawa Reds Team News
Nagoya Grampus
Yuichi Maruyama and Takuji Yonemoto remain sidelined with injuries for the home team while Hiroyuki Abe is a doubt.
Kazuki Nagasawa picked up a yellow card in the loss to Cerezo Osaka and is suspended for the game due to their accumulation.
Injury: Yuichi Maruyama, Takuji Yonemoto
Doubtful: Hiroyuki Abe
Suspension: Kazuki Nagasawa
Urawa Reds
Takahiro Akimoto and Thomas Deng are the two injury concerns for the visiting side here for the final game of the campaign.
Injury: Takahiro Akimoto, Thomas Deng
Doubtful: None
Suspension: None
Nagoya Grampus vs Urawa Reds Predicted XI
Nagoya Grampus Predicted XI (4-2-3-1): Mitchell Langerak; Yutaka Yoshida, Min-Tae Kim, Shinnosuke Nakatani, Kazuya Miyahara; Kazuki Nagasawa, Sho Inagaki; Ryoya Morishita, Naoki Maeda, Yoichiro Kakitani; Jakub Swierczok
Urawa Reds Predicted XI (4-1-4-1): Shushaku Nishikawa; Ryosuke Yamanaka, Alexander Scholz, Takuya Iwanami, Hiroki Sakai; Yuichi Hirano; Koya Yuruki, Yoshio Koizumi, Takahiro Sekine, Atsuki Ito; Ataru Esaka
Nagoya Grampus vs Urawa Reds Prediction
Nagoya Grampus have five losses at home this season and have enjoyed the upper hand in their recent fixtures against the visitors. Both sides have had similar output in front of goal this term but Nagoya have been the better side defensively.
All things considered, a narrow win for Grampus looks like the most likely outcome from the game.
Prediction: Nagoya Grampus 2-1 Urawa Reds.