Preview: Gangwon FC v Incheon United

Most eyes on Sunday will be on the Super Match however, there is an interesting game taking place to the East between Gangwon FC and Incheon United. Neither Gangwon or Incheon United have had great starts to their respective seasons and will be looking to start May with a win on Children's Day. Incheon haven't scored in five straight and are still managerless, whilst Gangwon have lost four of their last five.

Last Time Out

Gangwon FC 0 - 2 Daegu FC

Gangwon FC slumped to a fourth defeat in five games last Saturday against at in-form Daegu FC. The home side started well, boosted by an improved turn out at their Chuncheon home. However, the first half finished goalless with neither side able to find a clear opening.

In the second half Daegu started strongly and took the lead four minutes in, via a Jung Seung-won finish. Edgar Silva sealed the three points less than ten minutes later.

Highlights: here

Incheon United 0 - 0 Seongnam FC

Following a goalless draw against FC Seoul, Incheon changed nothing and unsurprisingly neither did the outcome. Once again, Incheon were backed by a solid turnout but started the game defensively, looking to score on an unlikely counter attack. Seongnam did the same which lead to a pretty predictable and boring series of exchanges. Both halves played out the same, in the end, with both sides lacking any cutting edge in the final third.

Highlights: here

Previous Meetings

Gangwon and Incheon played each other four times last season, with each being a goal fest. Gangwon won two; 7-0, 2-1. One ended in a 3-3 draw and Incheon won the final game 2-3.

Incheon last won away last season with Lee Jeong-bin scoring an injury time winner. Gangwon famously beat Incheon 7-0 at home last season with Đerić scoring four of the seven.

Over the years Incheon and Ulsan have played each other 20 times with the victories narrowly edged by Incheon nine to eight. The other three games have ended in draws.

Team News

Caretaker Incheon Manager Lim Joong-yong will hopefully welcome the returns of Captain Nam Jun-jae and star forward Stefan Mugosa, who have both been out for most of April with injuries. No Incheon players are suspended for this game, however Lim Eun-soo is a booking away from a ban. Gangwon also have no players suspended for Sunday afternoon's game.

Who To Watch

For Incheon United, if Stefan Mugoša makes a welcome return this weekend he could make a big difference. Despite missing the past few games he is still the club's top scorer and Incheon desperately need goals. Vietnamese star Nguyễn Công Phượng wasn't in the squad last weekend, but could return to the bench this coming Sunday.

Moving into the midfield, which for Incheon this season has been an area that's lacked consistency. Kim Bo-seob has faced a fair amount of flack in recent weeks, but the youngster has been playing out of position, so if he's able to move back onto the wing he could make more of a positive impact.

Finally, at the back Gordan Bunoza was much improved during the games against Seoul and Seongnam. He could be key for Incheon trying to plug their defensive gaps. Also keeper Jung San has also kept back-to-back clean sheets, so his name should be automatically on the team sheet.

For Gangwon, Giant Serbian forward Uroš Đerić finished last season with twenty-four goals to his name and received a fair amount of interest from bigger K League sides, as well as from China and Japan. However he stayed in Gangwon, which hasn't paid off yet this season. He's failed to score in any of his six appearances this year. Without him Gangwon have been looking to twenty-two year old Kim Ji-hyun to get the goals.

Prediction

Gangwon and Incheon are desperately looking to kick start their respective seasons. Gangwon have only won one of their last four in the league, falling into the bottom half. Incheon have only won once this season and haven't scored in their last five.

Incheon are still looking for a new manager but hopefully that issue doesn't affect the players on the pitch. They will probably play defensively once again using the deep 4-5-1 formation, whilst Gangwon will change things up following their defeat last weekend.

Overall, although Incheon have improved in recent weeks there is the underlying issue of a lack of goals. This weekend I do see Incheon finally registering a goal, but sadly I also see Gangwon scoring so a draw seems the likely outcome.

Predicted Score: Gangwon 1 - 1 Incheon United