12:00 Niigata Albirex – Gamba Osaka

Albirex Niigata will take on Gamba Osaka in the up coming fixture of the the Nabisco Cup. As expected, Albirex last game was a draw which is beneficial for both Kofu and Albirex from a tactical point of view. This game, the mood will be greatly different for the home side. I kinda feel that Niigata will be taking this game exceptionally seriously even though they are at the tight spot with just 3 points atop of the relegation zone. Knocking out Urawa was a huge surprise, so Albirex should feel pretty motivated to push for a home win here. I am expecting goals in this game as I feel that we shouldn't read too much on the previous match. Gamba have been particularly frail at the back and are forced to play at multiple fronts at the moment. They might just do some rotation but the squad size isn't that big so we should still see majority of the first team. Gamba is not a team that will give games away so we should expect a fight from Gamba. They should also have some pressure to win this being the winners of the last Nabisco Cup. If Gamba wants this, they will win it in this game instead of the next leg as that leaves them with even more limited options with the big game against Urawa and Evergrande coming up. Ok. GOALS.