Sydney vs Jeonbuk Motors 04/03/20

4 March 2020

Sydney will entertain Jeonbuk Motors in the AFC Champions League at the Leichhardt Oval this midweek.

The hosts will be desperate to bounce back after a disastrous 4-0 away loss to Yokohama on Matchday 1. Curiously, none of Sydney’s seven games since the turn of the year has ended in a draw (W5, L2), with the last five each seeing the winner on the day keep a clean sheet. Before succumbing 1-0 to WS Wanderers last time out, the Sky Blues had won eight consecutive games on home turf, with six of those successes yielding a single-goal margin. Also, Steve Corica’s rock-solid backline has yet to allow over 1.5 goals in nine home games so far this season. But, the recent lack of goals could be a problem for Sydney, as they’ve drawn a blank in two of their last four outings, scoring 2+ only once in the other two.

In the meantime, the visitors have suffered a 2-1 home loss to Yokohama in their Group H curtain-raiser, bringing an eight-game unbeaten run in all competitions to a halt (W4, D4). Yet, the vast majority (87.5%) of the matches during that eight-game sequence featured under 2.5 goals, with Jeonbuk scoring over two goals or more on just three of those occasions. In turn, all five of their previous away matches have seen less than three goals, with three seeing the same 0-0 halftime scoreline. But, stretching back to the final part of the last season, the Green Warriors are unbeaten in 13 consecutive away fixtures (W7, D6).