Preview: Jeonnam Dragons vs Suwon FC

This Sunday sees the best defence in the league take on the best attack, Jeonnam Dragons welcome Suwon FC to "the Dungeon" in this K League 2 Round 8 match up. Both teams have had mixed results of late, and both will be looking to take all three points this weekend. KLU's Joshua Higgins previews the upcoming clash. 

Match: Jeonnam Dragons vs Suwon FC
Venue: Gwangyang Football Stadium
Kick-off: Sunday, 28th June 2020, 18:00 KST
Form: Jeonnam: LWDDD Suwon: WLLWW

Last Time Out

Daejeon Hana Citizen 2 - 0 Jeonnam Dragons

Well, the inevitable finally happened, the Dragons lost a game. And to add to that, conceded more than once for the first time since October 2019. Truth be told, they have been outperforming their expected goals against (xG) all season, thanks to inspired performances by goalkeeper Park Jun-hyuk, arguably their best performer of the season so far. So, a result such as this had been coming.

That said, they held off Daejeon admirably until just after half time when the talented Andre Luis found himself in space just outside the box, and rifled the ball into the bottom corner, giving Park Jun-hyuk no chance. The second came from some smart footwork and clinical finishing from former Dragon Baio, to condemn the Dragons to their first defeat of the year.

Despite seeing more of the ball than they are accustomed to, they failed to create goal scoring chances with any consistency against a defence that had only kept one clean sheet prior to this match, highlighting their need for a creative talent in the middle of the park.

Highlights

Suwon FC 3 - 2 FC Anyang

Typical of Suwon this season, this game contained goals, and lots of them. Statistically, Suwon are more likely to be involved in a game registering four goals or more, than they are in a game finishing with only one or two goals this year.

The hosts created plenty of chances last time out, and generally controlled the game well, but would have been disappointed to concede two at home. An Byong-Jun added to his goal tally to bring him joint top of the goal scoring leader board with Brazilian Andre Luis, and will be hoping to continue his fine form this Sunday.

Highlights

Previous Meetings

The most recent meeting between the two was the aforementioned October 2019 game in which Jeonnam last conceded more than one goal. That game in October finished 3-2 to the Dragons with two late goals from Suwon in the 87th and 91st minute to create a frantic end to the game.

Baio scored a brace in that game, and was the main driving force behind Jeonnam's good form toward the end of last season, but with him having moved on to new pastures, and with Jeonnam not adequately replacing him, this weekend's match may have a different feel to it.

Recent history suggests the two teams are fairly matched with a record of one win each and two draws from their four most recent games together.

Team News

For Jeonnam,  long term absentee Rodolfo still isn't ready to be named in the match day squad. Jo Yun-hyeong picked up a red card versus Daejeon and will miss the game this weekend.

The Dragons have just announced the signing of midfielder Kim Hyun-wook, and are set to reveal their third foreign signing this week via social media after some build up asking fans to guess their newest "Jeonnamista".

Suwon have no new injury concerns, and have yet to receive any red cards, so they may very well name an unchanged lineup after last Sunday's win.

Suwon have mainly deployed a 4-5-1, and nothing in the build up to this game suggests they will change tact now, as they will look to control the game against a 4-3-3 that the Dragons have settled on early in the campaign.

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The Adversary

Suwon have had no problem scoring goals this season, with early MVP contender An Byong-jun leading the top scorer table, so regardless of the home team's defensive record, they will certainly feel confident that they can create goal scoring opportunities.

They have goals from various players in different positions and will see this game as a chance to climb further up the table, especially as third place Bucheon's form is faltering.

What To Watch

This one feels like a clash of opposites, attack versus defence, goals versus clean sheets, striker versus goalkeeper. Ultimately this game may depend on who gets the first goal, if any. Jeonnam will surely be looking to get back to having a solid, compact defence, and will be wary of Suwon's goal threat. So, an early goal from the Dragons could see them shut up shop early doors, whereas conceding could see them open up, and try something new to get some much needed goals.

These teams set up themselves up quite differently, and are the league leaders in what they do best, for Jeonnam, that's limiting goals and chances. For Suwon that's scoring goals and creating chances, so this game could have some interesting dynamics that other games might not provide this season. So, it may be worth a watch to to see the clash of playing philosophies on display.

Prediction

Honestly, this game is impossible to predict, so I'm going with a safe 1-1 draw, with An Byong-jun getting his eighth of the season and a set piece goal for the Dragons. But really, this one could swing either way.

Full time prediction: Jeonnam Dragons 1 -1 Suwon FC