In this raucous episode of J-Talk, Alan Gibson and first-time guest Tobias Dreimann come to us live from The Harbour Tavern in Kobe to review an action-packed J1 Matchday 21.

We begin with Gamba Osaka's much-needed win at home over FC Tokyo on Friday night, and discuss the situation at the foot of the table, which tightened up appreciably with all of the bottom four at the start of play winning over the weekend (to 15:15).

We then turn our attention to the top, with Hiroshima strengthening their position at the summit thanks to a home win over Nagasaki on Saturday night in the 'Peace Match', that Tobias was lucky enough to take in as part of his three and a half week ground-hopping tour of Japan.

The rest of the Matchday 21 games are rounded up (after I initially forgot Nagoya's 4-2 home triumph over Kashima!), in and around a look ahead to two massive rounds of fixtures this Wednesday and Sunday, with a preview of Kobe v Hiroshima beginning at 37:40.

#AUDIO ISSUES# Alan and Tobias were both sat in the pub, and therefore there's an awful lot of background noise as other people went about their business of enjoying their Monday night - I apologise as certain sections of the podcast will be difficult to hear - perhaps crack open a beer yourself, put your headphones in/on and imagine you were there, too!

Follow my guests on twitter:

Alan - @JSoccerMagazine

Tobias - @ConDrei

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