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The Urawa Reds square off against Thespakusatsu Gunma at the Shoda Shoyu Stadium Gunma in the third-round fixture of the Emperor's Cup.
The reigning champions secured a 1-0 win against third division side Fukushima United in the second round while Thespakusatsu Gunma overcame fellow J2 League side Montedio Yamagata, 3-1.
The Reds have kept three clean sheets on the spin and in their first game since the international break, they defeated Nagoya Grampus 3-0 at home on Saturday.
Gunma are struggling at the moment and are winless in their last six J2 League fixtures, failing to find the back of the net in four of them.
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Urawa Reds vs Thespakusatsu Gunma Head-to-Head
The two central Japanese rivals have locked horns just once so far, with that meeting coming in the third round fixture of the 2014 edition of the Emperor's Cup.
Thespakusatsu Gunma secured a shock 2-1 win in that fixture but were eliminated in the next round.
Urawa Reds form guide (all competitions): W-W-D-L-D
Thespakusatsu Gunma form guide (all competitions): L-D-L-W-L
Urawa Reds vs Thespakusatsu Gunma Team News
Urawa Reds
Hiroki Sakai and Tomoya Inukai are the two injury concerns for the reigning champions. They have been defensively solid in their recent outings and will be hoping to keep a fourth clean sheet in a row here.
As the team have been able to secure favorable results in their recent games, we do not expect any major changes in the starting XI for this cup fixture.
Injured: Tomoya Inukai, Hiroki Sakai
Doubtful: None
Suspended: None
Thespakusatsu Gunma
Gunma will have to make do without the services of So Hirao and Hajime Hosogai for this cup tie, as the duo are currently nursing injuries.
Injured: So Hirao, Hajime Hosogai.
Doubtful: None.
Suspended: None.
Urawa Reds vs Thespakusatsu Gunma Predicted XIs
Urawa Reds (4-2-3-1): Shushaku Nishikawa (GK); Ayumu Ohata, Takuya Iwanami, Alexander Scholz, Yuta Miyamoto; Ken Iwao, Atsuki Ito; Takahiro Akimoto, Yoshio Koizumi, Takahiro Sekine; Kasper Junker
Thespakusatsu Gunma (4-4-2): Masatoshi Kushibiki (GK); Masaya Kojima, Hayate Shirowa, Yuta Fujii, Atsuki Yamanaka; Toshiya Tanaka, Yuzo Iwakami, Koki Kazama, Towa Yamane; Akito Takagi, Junya Kato
$1,000 Risk-Free Bet at BetMGM SB
Urawa Reds vs Thespakusatsu Gunma Prediction
There is not much history between the two teams but given Urawa Reds' better squad quality, we are backing them to secure a narrow win in this match.
Prediction: Urawa Reds 2-1 Thespakusatsu Gunma
