Giravanz Kitakyushu will be looking for another win after the 1-0 J. League Cup success vs Oita Trinita.
The match was eventually decided in extra time and won by Giravanz Kitakyushu.
Giravanz Kitakyushu have struggled with their forward play of late. Their goals record equals just 4 against opposition teams during the course of their previous six fixtures. In those games, Giravanz Kitakyushu have also seen the tally of goals scored against them total 10. That trend won’t necessarily be carried forward into this match, however.
Following on from a losing effort in their last game against Vissel Kobe in J1 League competition, Machida Zelvia will be aiming to make amends here.
In that match, Machida Zelvia managed 53% possession and 15 attempts at goal with 5 on target. The only player on the scoresheet for Machida Zelvia was Ibrahim Drešević (96\'). For their opponents, Vissel Kobe had 14 shots on goal with 6 of them on target. Kakeru Yamauchi (45\') and Yoshinori Muto (89\') scored for Vissel Kobe.
In their last 6 outings, Machida Zelvia have bagged a total of 9 goals. Machida Zelvia have also managed to score in every single one of those games. During those fixtures, they have seen 6 goals go against them.
Head to head
An examination of their past head to head meetings going back to 15/05/2016 tells us that Giravanz Kitakyushu have won 4 of these games & Machida Zelvia 1, with the tally of drawn matches standing at 1.
In all, 14 goals were scored between them in this period, with 8 for Giravanz and 6 belonging to Machida. The average goals per game has been 2.33.
The previous league fixture featuring these clubs was J2 League match day 26 on 22/08/2021 when the final score was Giravanz Kitakyushu 2-1 Machida Zelvia.
The match was refereed by Kazuyoshi Enomoto.
Team News: Giravanz Kitakyushu
The Giravanz Kitakyushu boss will be thankful to have no fitness worries at all coming into this clash thanks to a completely injury-free group ready to go.
Team News: Machida Zelvia
Machida Zelvia manager Go Kuroda has a number of players out of action. Louis Thébault-Yamaguchi (Ankle sprain), Byron Vásquez (Adductor injury), Zento Uno (Hamstring injury) and Erik (Cruciate ligament tear) are not ready for selection.
Prediction
We’re thinking that Machida Zelvia will, in all probability, dominate on the ball and be rewarded with decent chances.
At the same time, Giravanz Kitakyushu might well find it difficult scoring goals- but, we do see them converting at least once here, too. We’re predicting a pretty comfortable 1-3 win for Machida Zelvia when all’s said and done.
