Balestier Khalsa midfielder Jonathan Xu wants to focus on his own game rather than worry about Albirex Niigata (S) when the two teams clash in Friday night's Great Eastern Yeo's S.League matchup.
The tough-tackling midfielder scored for the Tigers in their historic 2-1 victory over East Bengal in the AFC Cup on Tuesday night. Xu is ready to reprise his role to take Balestier to their second league win having claimed a 2-1 victory over Geylang International in their last match.
With only three days to recover before they take on Albirex, Xu reckons that head coach Marko Kraljevic is most likely to rotate his squad with players like Tarik Cmajcanin and Robert Pericic returning to the starting lineup.
Xu told ESPN FC: "I think we will be patiently soaking up their attacks and going on the counter. Albirex is very fast -- they like to keep possession and pass the ball around. If we can keep our focus and stay positive, we should be able to match them and get a result.
"I may not start against Albirex because Marko is likely to opt for a 4-4-2 formation where Tarik will take a central midfield role since he didn't play in the game against East Bengal. We also have Pericic up front so he can team up with [Miroslav] Kristic to trouble the Albirex defence."
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The White Swans are coming into Friday's game high on confidence after their shocking 6-0 demolition of defending champions Warriors FC on Saturday when Rion Taki and Atsushi Kawata worked in perfect tandem down the wings for Tatsuyuki Okuyama's side.
With two consecutive defeats before that game, Albirex finally got their campaign off the ground running and will be looking to secure a second league win against the Tigers at the Jalan Besar Stadium.
Despite Albirex's rampaging form against Warriors, Xu still believes his team has what it takes to give the Japanese outfit a run for their money.
"I saw the highlights of that game and Albirex played very well." said Xu. "But it was also obvious that Warriors had an inexperienced goalkeeper and Albirex were taking shots every time they had the ball. Thankfully for us, we have Zaiful [Nizam] in goal and he has been one of our top performers this season. He won't allow those shots to get past him so easily."
Albirex are the only team to have fielded the same starting eleven in all three of their league matches so far and Okuyama is expected to stick to his trusted eleven who did a perfect job in their last game.
This means Shotaro Ihata will play as the lone striker with Taki and Kawata providing the width down the flanks with Kento Nagasaki coming on in the second half as he has done in the previous three matches.
Balestier Khalsa Probable Lineup: Zainful Nizam (GK)(C), Yusiskandar Yusop, Emir Lotinac, Igor Cerina, Nurullah Hussein, Ho Wai Loon, Poh Yi Feng, Zulkiffli Hassim, Tarik Cmajcanin, Robert Pericic, Miroslav Kristic
Albirex Niigata (S) Probable Lineup: Yosuke Nazawa (GK), Kento Fujihara (C), Takahiro Saito, Mikiya Yamada, Itsuki Yamada, Hikaru Mizuno, Fumiya Koguere, Shun Inaba, Rion Taki, Atsushi Kawata, Shotaro Ihata