It was a big weekend in the Meiji Yasuda J1 League with a pair of top-four face-offs. Let’s see how it all went down:

Gamba Osaka 1, FC Machida Zelvia 3

Gamba scored first, but a red card in the 33rd minute changed the match and Zelvia raced to three goals against 10 men to stretch their lead atop the table to five points.

Vissel Kobe 3, Kashima Antlers 1

Yoshinori Muto, Matheus Thuler, and Yuya Osako answered Kashima’s early goal with tallies of their own as the reigning champions secured a very impressive three points in Kobe.

Cerezo Osaka 2, Nagoya Grampus 1

The league’s leading scorer found the back of the net yet again for Cerezo as Léo Ceará scored the Sakura’s opener before Lucas Fernandes added another to wrap up the win in Osaka against Grampus.

FC Tokyo 0, Avispa Fukuoka 1

Masato Shigemi scored a wonderful goal and that’s all Fukuoka needed as they went to the capital and took full points.

Kawasaki Frontale 1, Sanfrecce Hiroshima 1

Marcinho’s goal nearly nicked three points for Frontale, but Makoto Mitsuta scored in the 88th minute to earn Sanfrecce a draw in Kawasaki.

Urawa Reds 3, Júbilo Iwata 0

Urawa ran rampant as Hirokazu Ishihara, Ryoma Watanabe and Atsuki Ito all scored in a massive win over Júbilo.

Yokohama F·Marinos 1, Tokyo Verdy 2

Hiroto Yamami’s rocket put Verdy in front and an own goal doubled their lead as they won in Yokohama to continue their climb up the table.

Sagan Tosu 1, Kashiwa Reysol 4

Reysol were sublime in the second half, led by Matheus Sávio’s brace, as they scored four times to win in Tosu.

Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo 0, Albirex Niigata 1

Kaito Taniguchi continued his hot streak with a thunderous strike that delivered Albirex full points in Sapporo.

Shonan Bellmare 0, Kyoto Sanga 1

Taichi Hara’s goal made the difference as Sanga picked up a massive three points to move out of the relegation zone with a win in Hiratsuka.