Round 15 in the Chinese Super League sees Qingdao Jonoon play host to Cangzhou Mighty Lions at the Qingdao Youth Football Stadium on Friday, seeking to leave the relegation positions in the table.
Qingdao secured a draw last time out, while Cangzhou picked up their fourth league triumph of the season against Zhejiang Professional.
Match preview
The season has not been kind to Qingdao, whose struggles for performances and results have continued unabated — they have won twice in 14 games and lost a joint-high nine times.
A point in their previous game against cellar-dwelling Dalian Pro ended a run of five consecutive defeats, and they now look to build on that point this weekend.
Antonio Gomez's team have won seven of this season's nine points on their turf, giving the home side some optimism heading into Friday's encounter.
However, Hainiu's last two games in Qingdao have been defeats without scoring a goal, with a three-game winless home run and one win in five matches on their turf offering greater context.
The 15th-placed side could rise as high as 12th with maximum points and other results going their way, but they could easily slide to the bottom of the standings if they fail to match Dalian's result this weekend.
Cangzhou's season has been strange, evidenced by their 17 goals eclipsing the league's second-placed side – Shanghai Shenhua (16) – and 23 goals conceded worse than all but two clubs in the bottom half.
A 2-1 victory over the side directly above them – Zhejiang – leaves the Hebei-based club two points below their previous opponents and could leapfrog the ninth-placed side with a win.
Junzhe Zhao's team have endured a mixed campaign, going by their four wins and as many stalemates in eight games but have been on the receiving end of six defeats.
One such loss was a 6-2 thrashing against Beijing Guoan at the end of May, even if that was followed up with a 3-2 victory over Meizhou Hakka at the start of June.
Despite averaging more points on their travels, Friday's encounter is not expected to be a walk in the park for Zhao and his troops.
Team News
Gomez is not expected to make a raft of changes to the Qingdao side from the 1-1 draw against Dalian, with the 5-3-2 likely to be retained as well.
There might be an enforced change up top due to the injury that forced Evans Kangwa off in the game's closing stages.
Cangzhou centre-back and captain Mile Skoric returned to the starting lineup after being forced off in round 13's clash with Meizhou Hakka earlier this month, and the defender should keep his spot for Friday's clash.
There could be a change at right wing-back, with Piao Shihao withdrawn after 71 minutes in the 2-1 victory over Zhejiang on July 2.
Qingdao Jonoon possible starting lineup:
Mou; Wang, Liu, Andrejevic, Xu, Zhang; Zhong, Long, Saric; Forbes, Tabekou
Cangzhou Mighty Lions possible starting lineup:
Shao; Zheng, Skoric, Liu; Qinhan, Zhukov, Lin, Zhao; Maritu, Locadia, Sekyere
We say: Qingdao Jonoon 1-2 Cangzhou Mighty Lions
Qingdao have lost three of their last five at home, failing to score in those games, and that run is expected to become four defeats in six on their turf, despite finding the back of the net against Cangzhou.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
