The Japanese J1 League will resume its matchday 18 fixtures this weekend, providing lots of betting opportunities for us punters. One of the fixtures of interest to me is the one pitting Yokohama FC at home against Kashiwa Reysol, who are second on the classification table on 25.05.2025. I have a clear idea of what we should expect from this fixture, which I will explain in the next sections.
Yokohama FC – The in-form Hosts
Yokohama FC recorded a decisive victory away last weekend at Shonan Bellmare’s turf to clinch 3 important points that keep them off the relegation spot. They’ve won 2 of their last 3 matches and are putting up decent performances. Despite the recent performances, Shuhei Yomoda’s team is still far from safety and needs to make the most out of their home games to avoid relegation this season. So far, they’ve played 17 matches, with a record of 5 wins, 3 draws, and 9 losses, scoring 11 goals and conceding 17.
Yokohama FC hasn’t been very lucky this season! They lost quite a few games by the smallest margin of 1-0. Had these games been drawn, they’d be in a better position. Certainly, the defensive block led by Boniface Nduka and Kaili Shimbo needs to work harder this weekend to avoid conceding goals early in the game. I expect Yomoda to maintain the 3-4-3 formation, with Soromon Sakuragawa, author of 2 goals so far, leading the attack.
Before this much-awaited clash, Yokohama FC will host Machida Zelvia in the J-League Cup on the 21.05.2025. Knowing this, let’s see how their adversaries have been doing so far, comparatively.
Kashima Reysol – A Title Contender
Kashima Reyson suffered their second defeat of the season last weekend against a solid Machida Zelvia side. It took just 4 minutes for the hosts to open the score after Kotaro Hayashi took advantage of a tussle in the penalty area to net the ball following a deflected save by Ryusuke Kojima. A few minutes later, Taiyo Koga deflected a cross into the visitors’ nets, conceding an own goal. Na Sang-Ho converted a penalty in the extra time of the first half to make it 3-0. Kashiwa Reysol had their chances in that match and could have equalized when the game was still 1-0, but they failed to do so and got punished. However, before this defeat, Kashiwa was unbeaten in 14 games in all competitions, having won their last 4.
After 17 matches played, they have 33 points (4 less than the league leaders Kashima Antlers), with a detailed record of 9 wins, 6 draws, 2 losses, 20 goals scored and 13 conceded. Before their last defeat against Machida Zelvia, they had not conceded a single goal in 3 consecutive matches.
Yokohama FC vs Kashiwa Reysol Head-to-Head Statistics and Prediction
The H2H statistics show a closely fought contest between the two sides, with Yokohama having the slight advantage of 7 wins vs 6 wins for Kashiwa Reysol. Five of the meetings ended in a draw. Going by recent performances alone, one can foretell it’s not going to be an easy game for either side. I expect very few clear-cut goal scoring chances in the first half of the game, that’s why I’m betting on a Half-Time draw @1.97. You can also get such high odds by signing up on Game2Bet today.
