J.League Fantasy — GW17 Preview

J.League Fantasy expert Kurasawa shares the best player picks, expected lineups, odds, and more for gameweek 17.

J.League Fantasy — a game where you can transfer in a forward for a defender after the deadline, and not only that! Create a team now and beat the rest by scoring more points per gameweek on average!

Hello, everyone!

While all the top leagues have come to an end, the J.League is still a long way off with 18 gameweeks to go. Let’s see the dream team of the season so far.

Who could’ve thought that a wingback listed as a midfielder would be the highest-scoring player in the game?

J.League Gameweek 17 Match Win Probabilities

Current schedule

Vissel Kobe – Kawasaki Frontale game, which got postponed last week due to a typhoon, has been rearranged to the 22nd of July and will be part of GW21.

J.League Best Player Picks Gameweek 17

Yota Sato (Gamba Osaka, DEF, ¥4.25M) — here he is! Playing defender with the cheapest price. Seems like things are starting to click at Gamba and that should translate to fewer goals conceded and more clean sheets.

Gakuji Ota (Kyoto Sanga, GK, ¥6.75M) — for the last month I waited for the moment number 1 keeper Tomoya Wakahara would be dropped, because of his poor shot-stopping numbers. And two GWs ago it finally happened. I think the probability of Ota being as bad as Wakahara is low.

The next two pick advices are better to be followed from the next gameweek:

Yoshiaki Takagi (Albirex Niigata, MID, ¥7.25M) — Ryotaro Ito will join the Belgian side Sint-Truiden after this gameweek. He contributed (made a shot or a key pass) to 44.9% of all team shots. That’s a very high number, maybe the highest in J.League history. Therefore, without Ito, there should be more attacking onus on Takagi. But check on his status before getting him, he missed the last league game for an unknown reason.

Yuki Ohashi (Shonan Bellmare, FW, ¥6.00M) — remember him? It’s that one who scored a hat trick in GW1. Last week he returned from an injury that kept him out for almost 3 months. I expect him to start not this weekend, but afterwards. Good pick given Shonan played twice in GW18.

J.League Expected XIs Gameweek 17

You can check injuries, suspensions, and disappearances in this list.

Saturday

16:00 JST Yokohama F. Marinos v Kashiwa Reysol

19:00 JST Cerezo Osaka v Vissel Kobe

19:00 JST Sagan Tosu v Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo

Sunday

14:00 JST Albirex Niigata v Kyoto Sanga

Last game for Ryotaro Ito before he leaves for the Belgian side Sint-Truiden. Centre-back Michael James Fitzgerald, left-back Yuto Horigome and attacking midfielder Yoshiaki Takagi missed the previous league game for unknown reasons. There could be more clarity on Saturday if the club post-training pics on their Instagram, but so far the predicted XI is…

Left-back Kyo Sato got back in the matchday squad for the Emperor’s Cup last Wednesday. Not sure whether he starts this game by moving Shogo Asada back to CB.

16:00 JST Nagoya Grampus v Avispa Fukuoka

Not predicting a recently returned from long-term injury Yosuke Ideguchi to start this weekend as he started in the Emperor’s Cup on Wednesday.

18:00 JST Gamba Osaka v FC Tokyo

Left-back Keisuke Kurokawa was benched last time out because the coach didn’t want to lose air in his area. FC Tokyo is less threatening in aerial duels, so he should be back in the XI.

18:00 JST Kashima Antlers v Shonan Bellmare

Last week Yuki Ohashi returned from a hamstring injury that kept him out for almost 3 months coming off the bench in the 63rd minute. I don’t expect him to start this weekend, 30-45 minutes seem more likely. Akito Suzuki scored a hat-trick in Emperor’s Cup, why not reward him with another start?