Preview: Gwangju FC vs Seoul E-Land

Gwangju must bounce back from Monday's defeat in Busan as Seoul E-Land come to town. The Yellows welcome back Felipe to the fold who will need to get back in his managers good books should he want to win the KLeague 2 golden boot, while E-Land need to plug holes in a leaky defence at all costs.

Last Time Out

Busan IPark 3-2 Gwangju

The Gudeok Stadium hosted an end-to-end encounter on Monday night with play maker Romulo whipping a 25-yard free kick past a stationary Yoon Pyeong-gook on 19 minutes. Starlet Lee Dong-jun made it a quick-fire double flicking Park Jong-woo's free kick home after losing marker Lee Han-do. Park Jin-seop must have had stern words for his side at the break as Kim Ju-gong finally grabbed his first goal in a yellow shirt on 55 minutes before Willyan showed great movement towards the ball to steer an equaliser into the bottom corner. With the Yellows on top and pushing to make it an 11-point gap at the summit, Lee Dong-jun had other ideas latching onto Lee Eu-ddeum's stretched clearance to score on the volley from six yards.

You can watch the highlights here

FC Anyang 5-2 Seoul E-Land

E-Land failed to win for the fifth consecutive game as Anyang treated their home fans to a goal fest yet again. It took just nine minutes for Mo Jae-hyeon to open the scoring after being afforded too much time to turn inside the box. After some VAR checking Cho Kyu-sung added a second from the spot to make things comfortable at the interval. Lee Jeong-bin's strike coupled with Mo's brace made it four ahead of the hour mark before Lee Byeong-wook's introduction from the bench lasted just eight minutes much to the annoyance of Seoul boss Woo Seung-young. Manuel Palacios added a fifth but there was some hope as Robson Duarte turned the Purples defence inside out on 80 minutes to grab a consolation for the visitors. Kim Gyeong-joon's strike added some respectability to the score line in stoppage time after fellow sub Jeon Seok-hun picked him out from the byline.

You can watch the highlights here

Previous Meetings

E-Land's last visit to Jeollanamdo saw Gwangju inflict a 3-1 defeat upon them thanks in part to first-half goals from Kim Jeong-hwan and Willyan. With Felipe absent up top, a scrappy second half saw the Leopards threaten a comeback as Douglas Coutinho showed an instinctive touch and turn inside the box on 76 minutes. However, just five minutes later the now ostracised club captain Yeo Reum curled in a free kick from the edge of the box.

May's visit was sandwiched by two trips to Jamsil with identical scorelines. Kim Jeong-hwan and Willyan both scored again with the former bagging just two minutes after coming off the bench. The opening day of the season saw the Yellows take home their first three points of the season with Felipe and Yeo Reum both on the score sheet before the tenth minute in another 2-0 win.

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The Adversary

Hoping to avoid a clean sweep of defeats against league leaders Gwangju this season, Seoul will need to tighten things up at the back first and foremost. Conceding an average of 2.8 goals in their last five, E-Land have let in the most in the division by a clear margin of 14 goals. Woo Seung-young's choice of formation should be interesting. The 4-4-2 he opted for against third-placed Anyang was perhaps naive considering the Purples love of open attacking play and joy in front of goal of late. Surely sacrificing a striker to pack the midfield against Gwangju's central three would be more wise. Robson Duarte, facing his former team on Saturday can act as a roaming play maker but doesn't seem to be enjoying the same form he did under Park Jin-seop at Gwangju last term. Boss Woo will be without Lee Byung-wook following his late tackle on Yu Jong-hyun and subsequent red card.

What To Watch

While Kim Jugong has performed admirably in his deputy role up front, you would suspect talisman and K2 top scorer Felipe to make an instant return to the starting line-up following his three-game suspension. With fellow Brazilian Willyan in form, yet unavailable after picking up another yellow against Busan, Felipe will need to reclaim the goal scoring mantle. Finding the net just three times in his last 10, goals have dried up somewhat for the number nine signed from Vila Nova last summer. His lack of goals presumably stoking the fire for his ridiculous show of petulance up at Ansan Greeners, he also has some making up to do missing three matches at a vital time of the season. On home turf Felipe has notched just once since mid-June, but you would fancy him to work plenty of opportunities for himself against basement boys Seoul.


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Prediction

With their lead at the top cut to just five points by second-placed Busan on Monday, pressure increases upon Gwangju to claim a third consecutive home win. In current form, E-Land seem to be the perfect opposition to claim a steady home win against. Felipe will be eager to please, which is never a good thing for any team at this level.

Gwangju FC 3-0 Seoul E-Land

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