Albirex Niigata (S) take on GFA Sporting Westlake at the Jurong East Stadium on Friday evening with their sights firmly set on winning this year's The New Paper (TNP) League Cup.
After opening their Group C campaign with a 2-0 win over Home United on Monday, the White Swans are firmly on course to finish top of the group and advance to the semifinals.
Despite finding themselves under siege throughout the match, the Japanese outfit somehow managed to keep Home at bay before netting twice in the final 10 minutes through Itsuki Yamada and Kento Nagasaki to claim maximum points.
Albirex can now guarantee their spot in the last four by avoiding defeat against Sporting Westlake. Coach Tatsuyuki Okuyama, though, is looking further ahead and is hopeful of repeating their League Cup triumph of 2011.
"We had a difficult game against Home United but still managed to win," said Okuyama. "This gives us a lot of belief that we can become champions.
"With only three teams in our group, even one win is very important and we already achieved that on Monday.
"However, we don't really have much information on Sporting Westlake. We may try something new against them. But each game is important, and we will do our best to win on Friday."
While Okuyama has consistently kept his faith in the same starting eleven for much of the season, he could be tempted to ring in a few changes given they are expected to comfortably see off their opponents.
In particular, he could find it hard to leave Nagasaki on the bench following his brilliant cameo against the Protectors. This is all the more likely as playmaker Fumiya Kogure has only just returned from injury and struggled to have any influence on Monday.
Meanwhile, former Cerezo Osaka goalkeeper Kenjiro Ogino could be given an opportunity to prove his worth in place of veteran custodian Yosuke Nozawa, who has been Okuyama's first choice in goal this season.
Sporting Westlake will be making their first proper appearance in the tournament although they did briefly participate in 2013, when they were eliminated by Admiralty FC in the playoffs.
Despite the fact that few are expecting them to have any chance of causing an upset, they do have several players to call upon with plenty of experience in the Great Eastern Yeo's S.League.
Just seven months ago, defender Jaslee Hatta captained Balestier Khalsa to victory in the RHB Singapore Cup. He also had a place in this season's AFC Cup, while Ruhaizad Ismail was also a part of that team.
In addition, Fathi Yunos and Hakim Abdullah are expected to play key roles for Sporting Westlake, and they also have Japanese midfielders Yuto Nagai and Ryuta Hamamatsu to call upon.
Albirex Niigata (S) Probable Lineup: Yosuke Nozawa, Rui Kumada, Takahiro Saito, Kento Fujihara, Itsuki Yamada, Hikaru Mizuno, Shun Inaba, Fumiya Kogure, Atsushi Kawata, Rion Taki, Shotaro Ihata.
GFA Sporting Westlake Probable Lineup: Asyraf Asyfar, Jaslee Hatta, Fathi Yunos, Rahman Hassan, Miftahul Arifin, Ryuta Hamamatsu, Khairul Solyhin, Amir Asyraff, Yuto Nagai, Ruhaizad Ismail, Hakim Abdullah.