Kashima Antlers vs Kashiwa Reysol Match Preview

Kashima Antlers is ranked at 4th place with 52 points and comes after three wins a draw and a loss over the last five matches. With only four matches left to play and all four at home, they know they must win all four in order to have any hopes for finishing in the top three like they have done for the past four years, securing a ticket for AFC Champions League.

In their recent win 1-3 on the road against Vegalta Sendai, they ended their campaign away from home with ten wins in 17 games, while at home they must improve that as they have won only six out of 13. Now they face a rival that has no goals left to play and which they managed to beat earlier this season 2-3 on the road.

Kashiwa Reysol, on the other hand, is ranked at 10th place with 41 points and they did pretty well considering they were newly promoted this season. They come after a single win a draw and three losses over the last five matches which is an indicator that they lack motivation as two of the losses came against teams ranked 14th and 16th, while the draw against a team ranked 17th.

Even for this game, I do not expect a big motivation from them considering they will also be on the road and the fact that their last win against Kashima was way back in 2016.

In conclusion, I think Kashima Antlers can win this match. They have the quality needed to prevail here and the right motivation as with a win they can outrank Nagoya since they have the goal difference advantage and wait for a false step by them. They won four of the last five h2h matches against Kashiwa while drawing one. Kashiwa has conceded 40 goals so far and in the last five matches, they conceded seven goals failing to keep a clean sheet on four occasions.