Guangzhou City await the challenge of Dalian Pro at the Yuexiushan Stadium on Tuesday in round seven of the 2022 Chinese Super League season.
The teams head into this one off the back of respective defeats last time out and will both be looking to serve up a perfect response.
Match preview
Guangzhou City were left red-faced in Friday's meeting against Changchun Yatai as the latter cruised to a comfortable 3-1 victory.
Jean-Paul van Gastel's men fell two goals behind early on thanks to strikes from Serginho and Yufeng Zhang before Zhizhao Chen pulled one back seven minutes shy of half time, only for Erik to put the final nail in the coffin within 10 minutes of the restart.
Still yet to pick up a single point from their six games so far, the Blue Lions continue to wallow in the lower echelons of the table, ahead of bottom-place Hebei only on goal difference.
Awaiting them next is the clash of an opposing side against whom the last six meetings have been split evenly with both teams winning three games apiece.
Having lost four consecutive games on home turf, Tuesday's hosts will be keen to arrest their slump in form and kickstart their league campaign with all three points.
Dalian Pro fell to a second straight loss on Friday courtesy of a 2-0 win for Henan Songshan Longmen at the Dalian Sports Center Stadium.
Xie Hui's men conceded the opening goal of the match to Fernando Karanga before Henrique Dourado's 76th-minute penalty put the game to bed.
With six points amassed from as many games to date, the Blue Hawks are 14th in the league standings at the moment, three points clear of the relegation zone.
Currently on a run of six away games without a victory dating back to last Christmas, Tuesday's visitors have it all to do as they aim to get themselves back on track following a four-game winless streak.
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Team News
After having to watch on as a substitute in Guangzhou's last outing, Yuelei Cheng could be recalled to the starting XI at the expense of Jiaqi Han.
Thirty-four-year-old Zhizhao Chen has been directly involved in half of his side's league goals so far, making him one to keep an eye on.
Xiangchuang Yan was on fire for Dalian Pro in the most recent edition of this fixture, and he will be looking to deliver the goods once again.
Following another frustrating day in attack last time out, Ting Zhu's goal drought continues, with the Chinese forward now approaching 50 matches since his last strike.
Guangzhou City possible starting lineup:
Cheng; Jiang, Huang, Yi; Zhang, Li, Zhang, Fan, Chen; Wei, Gui
Dalian Pro possible starting lineup:
Zhang; He, Huang, Wang, Shan; Cui, Song, Wu; Wang, Zhao, Zhu
We say: Guangzhou City 0-1 Dalian Pro
Neither team has been great in front of goal, so we expect a low-scoring affair here. That said, we are also backing the away side to claim a narrow victory and heap more misery on their hosts come the end of the 90 minutes.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Adepoju Marvellous
