Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo are in a fight for their top-flight lives and that puts full pressure on the team on Saturday at 14:00 JST when they host Albirex Niigata in a match that will be shown live on JLeague.co and broadcasters around the world.

Consadole are bottom of the table with just 11 points from 20 matches, but they are still only six points from safety. It would only take one good run of form to lift them from the cellar, but now that they are into the second half of the season, the pressure is on to deliver that form because they are beginning to run out of time.

The Sapporo defense and attack rank last in the league, so there are plenty of areas to improve, but up-front inefficiency is the real surprise given manager Mihailo Petrović leading some of the league’s best-scoring sides in years past. Yuya Asano is a proven, capable goal scorer in J1 but will need to improve on his three goals and one assist to help spark this team.

Consadole desperately need to turn things around on the defensive end as well, with the club conceding two goals per game on average.

Albirex are far from guaranteed another year of J1 safety, sitting only in 16th place, but they don’t have nearly the same concerns as Consadole. They’ve put six points between themselves and the drop zone with a level of play that resembles a mid-table team far more than a side in the relegation fight.

Kaito Taniguchi continues to have a fine season, scoring as Albirex picked up an impressive draw in Hiroshima on Wednesday for the team’s fourth straight match with a result. Now he’ll be hoping to do it away once more, this time in Sapporo with a chance to continue their push towards the middle of the league.

Will Taniguchi and Albirex keep their unbeaten streak going? Or will Consadole begin a climb to safety?

Find out live on Saturday in this match broadcast around the world!