Episode 474 - J1 Matchday 20

A matchday that promised so much left us with most of the big questions unanswered following stalemates in the crunch clashes at either end of the table, but still delivered plenty of cracking goals and talking points for us to chew on.

We begin at the Toyota Stadium for the battle of the (then) top two, with both teams taking the lead but then pegged back, Yokohama F.Marinos maintaining their four point buffer over hosts Nagoya (to 14:20), but seeing their lead over (now) second-placed Kobe reduced to three points after Vissel won at Niigata on Friday night. We then round out the top four with Urawa's goalless draw at home against FC Tokyo (to 33:40), before shifting to the foot of the table and the Battle of the Bottom at Hitachidai, and then rounding up the rest of J1 Matchday 20 (to 1:08:05).

We finish the episode with a look ahead to some of the intriguing battles on Wednesday's Emperor's Cup third round slate, and pick out some games to watch in the weekend's Matchday 21.