Two teams from the lower end of the table in Vissel Kobe and Jubilo Iwata will square off at the Yamaha Stadium in J1 League action on Saturday.
Vissel Kobe moved up a place from the bottom of the standings with back-to-back wins in their last two games. The 2-1 win against Shimizu S-Pulse in their previous outing was their third in five games. Substitute Yuya Osako scored the decisive goal in injury time of the second half to help his side to the three points in that home game.
Jubilo Iwata, on the other hand, have lost two games in a row and their 1-0 loss at home to Avispa Fukuoka was their third loss in five games. They are just two points and a place above the home team in the league table, and if they suffer a loss here, they can slip to 17th place in the standings at Vissel Kobe's expense.
Vissel Kobe vs Jubilo Iwata Head-to-Head
The two sides have met 44 times across all competitions. Jubilo Iwata have been the better side in this fixture and currently enjoy a 21-16 lead in wins while seven games have ended in draws.
Vissel Kobe are undefeated in their last five meetings against Jubilo Iwata and the reverse fixture at the Misaki Park Stadium in May ended in a goalless draw.
Vissel Kobe form guide (all competitions): W-W-L-W-L
Jubilo Iwata form guide (all competitions): L-D-W-W-W
Vissel Kobe vs Jubilo Iwata Team News
Vissel Kobe
Ushi remain without the services of Sergi Samper and Noriaki Fujimoto. There are no fresh injury concerns for them at the moment.
Injured: Noriaki Fujimoto, Sergi Samper
Doubtful: None
Suspended: None
Jubilo Iwata
Ryo Takano's involvement in the game remains doubtful while Hiroki Yamada and Yuki Otsu are out injured at the moment.
Injured: Hiroki Yamada, Yuki Otsu.
Doubtful: Ryo Takano.
Suspended: None.
Vissel Kobe vs Jubilo Iwata Predicted XIs
Vissel Kobe (4-2-3-1): Hiroki Iikura (GK); Tetsushi Yamakawa, Ryuho Kikuchi, Yuki Kobayashi, Gotoku Sakai; Hotaru Yamaguchi, Yuya Nakasaka; Yutaro Oda, Andres Iniesta, Koya Yuruki; Yoshinori Muto.
Jubilo Iwata (3-4-2-1): Ryuki Miura (GK); Norimichi Yamamoto, Ricardo Graca, Makito Ito; Masaya Matsumoto, Yasuhito Endo, Naoki Kanuma, Mahiro Yoshinaga; Kotaro Omori, Rikiya Uehara; Kenyu Sugimoto.
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Vissel Kobe vs Jubilo Iwata Prediction
Vissel Kobe have seen a turnaround in their fortunes recently and are on a two-game winning streak across all competitions. Jubilo have lost two games in a row, failing to score in both games. The home team, on the other hand, have scored four times and conceded just one goal in the same period.
Taking the form of both sides into consideration, we back Vissel Kobe to secure a win here.
Prediction: Vissel Kobe 2-1 Jubilo Iwata