Top spot in the J. League has changed hands with every weekend so far this May, but Gamba Osaka will be hoping to make their lead stick after taking over in first place last Saturday.
Gamba beat Sagan Tosu 3-0 to move top of the table for the first time since winning the title in 2014, leading Kashiwa Reysol by a point with 12 rounds played. The fact that only five points separate the top eight teams shows just how fluid the situation currently is, however, and Gamba manager Kenta Hasegawa is not about to get carried away by his team's lofty position.
"I've been saying all along that we're not paying any attention to the table," Hasegawa said after Saturday's win. "Of course it's really good that we're top, but we're only a third of the way through the season. We want to just keep going the way we've been going, taking each game as it comes."