Urawa Reds extended their lead at the top of the J. League table with a comfortable 2-1 win over Nagoya Grampus on Saturday.
Goals either side of halftime from Takahiro Sekine and Yuki Muto at Saitama Stadium secured the victory for Reds despite Teruki Tanaka's last-minute consolation goal, giving the league leaders a three-point cushion ahead of FC Tokyo and Kawasaki Frontale.
Gamba Osaka can reduce the deficit to one if they beat Albirex Niigata on Sunday, and with a meeting between Gamba and Urawa — last season's champion and runnerup — coming up next Saturday, Reds manager Mihailo Petrovic is eager to eliminate the kind of mistakes that denied his team a clean sheet against Grampus.