Episode 480 - J1 Matchday 26: Kobe Back on Top

Sam makes a triumphant return to J-Talk to help Ben run through all of the games from a wild top flight weekend.

We begin with the top two, Kobe taking advantage of Yokohama F.Marinos's latest wobble by returning to the summit with a 2-1 home win over Kyoto on Sunday night, with the picture looking very murky for F.Marinos after back-to-back defeats against lowly opponents and the rumoured move of Anderson Lopes to Saudi Arabia.

Elsewhere Cerezo Osaka vaulted up to fourth and might just be the likeliest challengers to the top two after a third straight win, with Nagoya, Urawa and Kashima all drawing against bottom six opponents.

Wins for Hiroshima, Fukuoka and, at long last, Sapporo, round out our J1 wrap, before we look ahead to Levain Cup quarters and two big games for the Samurai Blue.