Albirex Niigata (S) vs Brunei DPMM

(October 28, Tuesday, 7.30pm, Jurong East Stadium)

Written by: Phoon Jia Hui

Albirex Niigata (S) and Brunei DPMM lock horns at the Jurong East Stadium in their penultimate Great Eastern Yeo’s S.League tie on Tuesday evening and they will be looking for a win to keep their respective title hopes alive.

Albirex hauled themselves back in the running for the championship after edging Home United 2-1 on Friday evening, while the same cannot be same for DPMM who were held to a 1-1 draw by Balestier Khalsa.

Warriors FC currently lead the standings on 50 points, three more than DPMM and a victory for the Wasps will propel them to the top heading into the final fixture against defending champions Tampines Rovers.

The White Swans on the other hand, will go level on points with DPMM if they manage to emerge victorious here and set up an exciting finale to the final day of the season.

There will be added incentive for Albirex to beat DPMM too, as a win could help them emulate their showing from the past two seasons where they finished as second runners-up.

A quick look at the squad of both sides and it suggests quality is aplenty with Kazuki Sakamoto and Rodrigo Tosi leading the lines for Albirex and DPMM respectively, both of whom are at the top of the goalscoring charts.

However, there can only be one winner from this encounter so expect an end-to-end game as both teams try to cancel each other out and reign supreme.

Suspension: Taiyo Nishida (Albirex Niigata (S))

Key Men To Watch

Albirex Niigata (S): Kento Nagasaki

With the ball at his feet, Nagasaki can be a real handful for opposition’s defence with his mazy runs which causes confusion in the backline.

His pace is also another asset of his and he will be looking to utilise this to exploit the DPMM defence regardless of which flank he is going to be deployed at.

This was evident in their goalless draw against Tampines Rovers in Week 23 as the winger successfully executed 100% of his dribbles and had a 83% passing accuracy according to InStat.

Brunei DPMM: Roy O’Donovan

The former Sunderland player has been one of the key players for the Wasps this season along with Rodrigo Tosi and they are the main reason why DPMM are challenging for the title.

Like Nagasaki, O’Donovan possesses silky dribbling skills and also an eye for goal as the Irish forward is the team’s second top-scorer behind Tosi with 15 goals to his name.

Albirex Niigata (S) – WLDWD

24/10/14    Albirex Niigata (S) 2-1 Home United

6/10/14    Balestier Khalsa 2-0 Albirex Niigata (S)

17/9/14    Tampines Rovers 0-0 Albirex Niigata (S)

28/8/14    Geylang International 3-4 Albirex Niigata (S)

25/8/14    Albirex Niigata (S) 2-2 Tampines Rovers

Brunei DPMM – DLLDL

25/10/14  Brunei DPMM 1-1 Balestier Khalsa

7/10/14    Brunei DPMM 2-3 Warriors FC

26/9/14    Brunei DPMM 2-3 Home United (RHB Singapore Cup 2nd Leg; 3-4 on aggregate)

23/9/14    Home United 1-1 Brunei DPMM (RHB Singapore Cup SF 1st Leg)

17/9/14    Brunei DPMM 1-2 Home United

Head to Head (S.League)

14/5/14    Brunei DPMM 2-1 Albirex Niigata (S)

22/2/14    Albirex Niigata (S) 0-1 Brunei DPMM

28/6/13    Brunei DPMM 0-2 Albirex Niigata (S)

11/3/13    Albirex Niigata (S) 2-1 Brunei DPMM

18/7/12    Albirex Niigata (S) 2-0 Brunei DPMM

11/3/12    Brunei DPMM 2-1 Albirex Niigata (S)