Urawa Reds blanked Albirex Niigata 2-0 away for their fourth straight win on Tuesday to keep their J-League lead with nine games left to play in the season.
Urawa, the 2007 Asian champions, stood at 53 points, six points clear of Kawasaki Frontale with Kashima Antlers trailing in third spot, one point further back.
Urawa striker Shinzo Koroki opened the scoring in the 22nd minute with his 10th league goal of the season and defender Ryota Moriwaki doubled the account on 50 minutes.
Kawasaki remained hot on Urawa's heels with former Mallorca and Wolfsburg frontman Yoshito Okubo pulling a hat-trick in a 3-1 win away over Omiya Ardija.
Urawa, chasing their first league title since 2006, rested just two days after beating Kashiwa Reysol 3-1 at home in the last round.
"We fought again with just two days' rest. We won the game all right but we were outdone in some aspects of how we played," 28-year-old Koroki told reporters.
"It was good that we could take advantage of a few chances to win three points."
Urawa manager Mihailo Petrovic said, "Our style of soccer requires a lot of stamina and a lot of movement off the ball."
"It's hard to recover properly on two days rest."
Kashima Antlers beat Vegalta Sendai 1-0 away with Shoma Doi scoring the winner in the 43rd minute and moved up to third place at 46.
Sagan Tosu slipped to fourth spot after losing 2-0 away to Kashiwa Reysol with a brace from Masato Kudo.
The next round will be played on Saturday.
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