Jubilo have an eight point advantage over the bottom three and should be safe, thanks to their early season form, they have yet to win in Stage 2 and have had a tough sequence of games over the last month..... Frontale, Marinos, Reysol , FCT and now Gamba and I doubt they will be quite as motivated as the visitors, who on a going day are as talented as anyone in J-League, but have struggled by their own high standards this season. Two very hard earned back to back home wins by the minimum margin have got them up to 4th in Stage 2 , but still five points off the lead and eight adrift of third in the overall table and they cannot really afford any slip ups and the bonus for us with that is that they will surely be 100% interested only in threee points today. They edged the reverse fixture 2-1  and I previewed that game and those notes give an indication of how highly I rate Gamba , so are worth repeating ...........

It is two months since Gamba won on home soil, actually that was their sole win in their brand new Suita Stadium and they have won just once in the last month. Not only have they been eliminated from the AFC Champions League, whilst FC Tokyo and Urawa Reds have progressed, but they have lost their way in Stage 1 and in terms of winning a domestic title, we are talking about the two cups and Stage 2 (which doesn't start until July). However, they do have to find some form in the interim and stay in contention in the overall table ( Stage 1 and 2 combined) which will decide additional CL spots for next season. It has not helped matters that their biggest rival Urawa have not only handled playing in the international competition , but sit atop of Stage 1 with an 8-1-1 record and Gamba supporters are not happy and this combined with the need to fill the new arena, has put a lot of pressure on the "best team in Japan". They are enjoying a lot of possession as you would expect of a passing team so comfortable on the ball, but they have struggled in the final third and not made the most of their many chances.

They play Sanfrecce, Urawa and FCT in three of their next four starts and to go into that very difficult run of games without turning things around today is going to make life very difficult for them . Head coach Kenta Hasegawa said this week he knows his side cannot wait forever to kick-start its challenge:“We have a lot of quality players, but until someone can come up with the goods, it’s difficult.“When you’re scoring goals freely they keep coming, but when you can’t score it’s not easy. You can’t just force it. Today (Albirex Niigata) we created a lot of chances in the first half but all we could do was keep trying and trying until one went in.” Hasegawa has struggled to find his best formation this season and now that the focus is only J-League, he has to get back to a settled team and he should be further helped in that regard by having had a full and free midweek to prepare for today. On paper his squad  is stronger than last season, something we spoke about on opening day .........
 

That optimism seems a little misguided presently, but in their spectacular 2014, they actually had four points fewer at this stage and they know what they are capable of once their find their form, they are one convincing win away from refinding their self belief, it is hard to see them edging home against anyone right now, the goals are either going to come or not and if they win today, I expect to be comfortably or not at all. Jubilo are short handed offensively, we have spoken a lot about how important Jay Bothroyd is and his injury along with limited options meant that they played without a striker last week, their limitation were cruelly exposed by Vissel Kobe in their last away start, where they conceded four and Gamba could have similar joy.

Jubilo are hard hit defensively with suspensions to holding player Tomohiko MiyazakiI and central defender Avraam Papadopoulos, without MiyazakiI they have failed to win in six league and mainly cup games he has sat out this season and he missed just two games last year in their J2 promotion campaign, both of which they lost, only six losses in the 40 games in which he played. Away win.