The best attack in the Meiji Yasuda J1 League will have a go at the best defense in the competition this weekend when Yokohama F·Marinos visit Avispa Fukuoka.

Marinos’ 26 goals on the year are five more than any other club, giving them unquestionably the top attack through the season’s first 13 weeks. They have scored multiple goals in an astonishing 69% of their matches, making them not only a team with dependable goalscoring but one that will do it repeatedly.

That Marinos have been so good going forward is especially impressive considering the turnover they had up front coming into the campaign. Ado Onaiwu was sold last summer, while Daizen Maeda followed in the winter, stripping the Tricolor of two of the best strikers in Japan. The shrewd signing of Anderson Lopes before the season has paid dividends, though, with his seven goals key to this year's title challenge in Yokohama.

The real strength for Marinos, though, has been their attacking depth, with 10 different players getting on the scoresheet and six accounting for multiple goals, including Takuma Nishimura with four.

That dynamic attack has thrust the Tricolor into third place, only four off the top spot.

Avispa will be hard-pressed to slow down a team that can hit them from anywhere, but if there was a club in the league well-equipped to do so, it’s the men from Fukuoka.

Conceding just nine goals on the season, and with clean sheets in nearly half their matches, Avispa are experts at limiting chances and sniffing out danger before it even begins.

Their defensive success doesn’t come largely from aggressive pressing or great tackling; the Avispa player with the most tackles this season ranks 30th in the league and they’ve covered the least distance of any team in J1. Rather, Avispa sit deep in the back, intelligently cover angles, and frustrate opponents. Discipline and smarts lead the way for Avispa.

Despite their great defending, however, Avispa are only 12th in the table. For all their brilliance at the back, they have only scored 10 goals - and five of those came against F.C.Tokyo earlier in May.

As with any midtable team this season, though, they are part of a large and congested pack, currently sitting only five points from fourth place in J1.

A classic defensive display could mean another big day for the hosts, especially if much-discussed winter signing Lukian can reliably find the net on the other end of the pitch.

Will Marinos’ attack be able to break through against the Avispa defense and keep their title challenge at full speed? Or will the home side showcase their steely rearguard once more and make their way up the table? We’ll find out this weekend at BEST DENKI STADIUM.