FC Seoul will be looking to return to winning ways when Daegu FC visit Sangam this Saturday. Last time out, An Ik-soo's men lost 3-2 to Daejeon Hana Citizen following a late Masatoshi Ishida strike from close range. It was Seoul's second loss of the season having also suffered a reverse at home to Ulsan in Round 3. Seoul, though, remain in the top four and are only two points behind Daejeon and Pohang.
Daegu FC, meanwhile, are on a run of four unbeaten but three of those matches have ended as stalemates. The Sky Blues beat Jeonbuk two rounds ago for what was the team's first win of the season and then drew 0-0 away to Incheon last time out.
Head-to-Head
There have been 48 previous K League meetings between FC Seoul and Daegu FC. Seoul have the advantage with 19 wins to Daegu's 14 and 15 draws. The capital club have outscored Daegu, too, with 70 to 55. However, over the last 10 meetings, it is Daegu that have come out on top more often than not with four wins to Seoul's two and four draws as well as 16 goals to Seoul's eight.
The two teams met five times last year, four in the league and once in the FA Cup with Seoul winning three and losing two. The most recent came in the FA Cup semifinal when a 120th-minute Na Sang-ho strike sent Seoul through to the final.
What to Watch
With 46.9% possession for FC Seoul and just 32% for Daegu FC, Saturday's match may well be decided by the team that is most effective on the counterattack. For FC Seoul this is a definite shift towards a new, more direct way of playing as An Ik-soo's men enjoyed the most possession in the division last year with 62.1%.
In terms of goals, Seoul have actually been out-performing their expected goals with nine goals scored from an xG of 5.10 whereas Daegu have managed six goals from an xG of 5.78. Whether Seoul will be able to keep this up will be something to keep an eye on.
Both teams have an archetypal number nine-like striker leading the line for them, FC Seoul with Stanislav Iljutcenko and Daegu with Edgar. Edgar is third in K League 1 for headed shots with four including one which hit the back of the net. Iljutecenko, meanwhile, got off the mark last time out, heading home a Ki Sung-yeung corner away to Daejeon. This fixture will be especially meaningful for Iljutcenko as his first goal for FC Seoul came against Daegu.
How each team gets balls into their strikers will be something to keep tabs on. A win for FC Seoul could move them into third depending on how Pohang get on against Gwangju while a win for Daegu would move them level on points with Seoul.
Fans in countries with K League overseas broadcasting rights can follow the game live on television. More information can be found
here.
Alternatively, the match is also available for FREE on
TV.KLeague.com.
