Cerezo Osaka have now gone top of the MEIJI YASUDA J1 League after Kashima Antlers defeated previous leaders Kashiwa Reysol 3-2 on Sunday.

The reigning Japanese champions travelled to Kashiwa Stadium seeking to keep up their perfect record under coach Go Oiwa but duly fell behind as Hidekazu Otani opened the scoring for the hosts.

However, Antlers roared back in the second half and took the lead through Mu Kanazaki and Ryota Nakagi.

Cristiano temporarily equalised for Reysol after the hour mark but it proved in vain as Pedro Junior struck the winner not 10 minutes later to ensure Antlers can still mathematically go top with their game in hand against Gamba Osaka.

However, the summit belongs to Cerezo Osaka for now, who have capped a brilliant first half of the 2017 season with a 3-1 win over FC Tokyo.

Despite it only being their first season back in the top-flight since relegation in 2014, the newly-promoted outfit have surged to the front of the standings in convincing fashion and their win over the capital club at the weekend proved no different.

Peter Utaka temporarily gave Tokyo the lead but Cerezo took the game by the scruff after the break and Kenyu Sugimoto, Riku Matsuda and Souza gave the Kincho Stadium faithful reason to celebrate a remarkable campaign so far.

Ventforet Kofu held Sagan Tosu to a 0-0 draw in the final match on Sunday.