Kawasaki Frontale, who won the Cup last season and started this one winning the Supercup to Vissel Kobe, starts this new campaign with more ambitious targets and the aim to improve their 8th position last season.

They are one of the best teams in the JLeague 1. League winners in 2017, 2018, 2020 and 2021, and runner-ups in 2022, their 2023 season at 8th position was a big disappointment for the club, especially because the squad should be fighting for the title. However, the Cup and Supercup defused the tension.

They have signed an interesting Brazilian striker from Botafogo - Erison, who have already scored three goals in two league games and two goals in 2 AFC Champions League games, making an average of one goal per 66 minutes. This is a good addition for a team who already has two legends upfront: Gomis and Yu Kobayashi, the man who can rescue them when the team is in trouble.

Kawasaki is now out of the AFC Champions League (after losing in ⅛ finals against Shandong), so they can be fully focused in the JLeague 1. They started the season with one victory against Shonan, but then suffered two defeats at home against Kyoto (0:1) and newly promoted side Iwata (4:5).

I expect Kawasaki to react after this two bad results at home against teams which are worse on paper, so I expect them to play with high motivation here.

The main reason they are struggling so much of late is that their balance between offence and defence is not good. They are a team with good scoring ability, but at the back they need to improve their defending against crosses.

On the other hand, Kashima is a good team whose target is the TOP3 to play in the AFC Champions League. They started the season winning the opening game against Nagoya, whilst then drew against Osaka and lost against Machida last weekend.

I think the main reason for that defeat was Kashima’s lack of ideas in the attacking third, and they really seemed to struggle against a team that was happy to defend deep.

Kashima use a lot of long balls to try and start attacks, but lately they haven’t been able to win the second ball often enough to make chances. Kaishu Sano is key for them in that department and is a master of second balls, and although he is still not quite at 100 percent I think he will have a vital role to play in this game.

I’m expecting here a very equal game between two teams who have similar quality. However, I think we’ll see an open game with goals and chances, and Kawasaki has more quality upfront so should be able to have more effectiveness, convert more chances and score more goals.

Kawasaki is unbeaten in the last 15 games against Kashima. They have won the last 7 games played against them. Last Kashima victory against Kawasaki was in 2018, 6 years ago.

川崎前锋在上赛季赢得了杯赛冠军，并在本赛季的超级杯中击败了神户队，他们以更雄心勃勃的目标开始了新的赛季，目标是提高上赛季的第8名。

他们是日本职业棒球大联盟中最好的球队之一。2017年、2018年、2020年和2021年的联赛冠军，以及2022年的亚军，他们在2023赛季排名第八，这对俱乐部来说是一个很大的失望，尤其是因为这支球队应该为冠军而战。然而，杯赛和超级杯缓和了紧张局势。

他们从博塔弗戈签下了一名有趣的巴西前锋埃里克森，他已经在两场联赛中打进3球，在两场亚冠联赛中打进2球，平均每66分钟打进1球。对于一支已经拥有两位传奇人物的球队来说，这是一个很好的补充:Gomis和Yu Kobayashi，当球队陷入困境时，他可以拯救他们。

川崎现在已经退出了亚冠联赛(在决赛输给山东之后)，所以他们可以完全专注于日本联赛。赛季初，他们在与湘南队的比赛中取得了一场胜利，但随后在主场对阵京都队(0:1)和新进球队岩田队(4:5)的比赛中遭遇了两场失利。

我希望川崎在主场面对两支纸面上更糟糕的球队后能做出反应，所以我希望他们在这里有很高的动力。

他们最近如此挣扎的主要原因是他们在进攻和防守之间的平衡不好。他们是一支得分能力很强的球队，但在后防线上他们需要加强对传中的防守。

另一方面，鹿岛是一支优秀的球队，他们的目标是进入亚冠联赛的前三名。他们在赛季初赢得了对名古屋的首战，然后战平了大阪，上周末输给了町田。

我认为这场失利的主要原因是鹿岛在进攻三线上缺乏创意，他们似乎真的在与一支乐于防守纵深的球队作斗争。

鹿岛队使用了很多长传来尝试发动进攻，但是最近他们不能经常赢得第二球来创造机会。佐野kaiishu Sano是球队在这方面的关键，他是一个二球大师，虽然他还没有达到100%的状态，但我认为他将在这场比赛中扮演至关重要的角色。

我希望这是两支实力相当的球队之间的一场势均力敌的比赛。然而，我认为我们会看到一场进球和机会的开放比赛，川崎在前场有更多的质量，所以应该能够更有效，转化更多的机会和进球。

川崎在最近15场对鹿岛的比赛中保持不败。他们赢了最近7场对阵他们的比赛。鹿岛上一次战胜川崎是在6年前的2018年。