Qingdao Jonoon will be looking to record back-to-back victories when they welcome out-of-form Henan Songshan Longmen to the Qingdao Youth Football Stadium on Monday night in the Chinese Super League.
The hosts have not tasted defeat in four matches across all competitions, while Henan will be aiming to end a worrying run of three successive defeats.
Match preview
Qingdao ended a run of eight matches without a win in the Chinese Super League with a 5-0 demolition of strugglers Shenzhen at Qingdao Football Stadium last time out.
Striker Felicio Brown Forbes was the man of the moment on Wednesday, with the Costa Rican netting a second-half hat-trick, while Peng Xinli and Wang Chien-Ming made the net ripple for the hosts.
A first maximum since the middle of May has propelled Qingdao out of the drop zone in the CSL standings, with Antonio Gomez's men now sitting in 13th, two points ahead of the relegation places.
Almost all of Jonoon's points have arrived in front of their home faithful this term, as Qingdao have only collected two points from eight CSL outings so far - a record that can only better that of the aforementioned Shenzhen.
Henan's losing run in the CSL extended to three matches on Tuesday night as the Longmen were beat 2-0 at the home of AFC Champions League-chasing Chengdu Rongcheng.
The division's third-placed team have the best home record in the league, and the Leshan Olympic Sports Center lived up to its fortress reputation on the night, with Tang Xin and Chow Tim bagging second-half goals to down Henan.
Sergio Diaz will pit his wits against fellow Spaniard Gomez on Monday night, with the 47-year-old's side slipping to 12th in the CSL standings following a poor run of recent form.
A source of optimism for the travelling Longmen fans will be that their latest victory in the league was away from home, with Serbian veteran Nemanja Covic bagging the decisive goal of the match on June 28.
Team News
Qingdao are expected to name a similar team to the one which produced their best result of the campaign to date against Shenzhen, with the likes of Song Wenjie and Serge Tabekou looking to provide hat-trick hero Forbes with top-class deliveries.
A cause of concern for boss Gomez will be the forced substitution of centre-back and captain Sha Yibo at the hour mark last time out, meaning Wang could slot in the hosts' back three.
Henan have no fresh injury concerns ahead of Monday's fixture, but Diaz could be tempted to shuffle his pack after a loss on Tuesday, meaning Huang Zichang and Han Dong could be introduced to spruce up the visitors' attack.
Feng Boyuan and Hildeberto Pereira are the pair who could make way up top - the duo have netted just two goals between in the Chinese Super League this term.
Qingdao Jonoon possible starting lineup:
Mou; Zhang, Andrejevic, Sha, Liu, Xu; Tabekou, Long, Peng, Song; Forbes
Henan Songshan Longmen possible starting lineup:
Wang; Mawlanyaz, Sunjic, Gu, Yang; Tudi, Mierzejewski, Pina, Zhong; Pereira, Feng
We say: Qingdao Jonoon 2-0 Henan Songshan Longmen
Qingdao ended their worrying run of results with a 5-0 thrashing at home last time out, and Gomez's men will be confident of producing a similar scenario on Monday night.
Henan find themselves in a bit of a rut and are unlikely to earn a result at Qingdao Youth Football Stadium, but the visitors should be able to keep the match competitive.
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Top tip
Carter White
