Shanghai Shenhua and Guangzhou face off at the Hongkou Stadium on Saturday in matchday six of the 2022 Chinese Super League season.
The hosts are looking to pick up a third straight win, while the visitors go in search of back to back victories having returned to winning ways last time out.
Match preview
Shanghai Shenhua eased past the challenge of Wuhan FC courtesy of a routine 2-0 triumph when the two sides went head-to-head on Monday.
Wu Jingui's men opened the scoring on the stroke of half time through Jianrong Zhu before Alexander N'Doumbou put the result beyond doubt in the 72nd minute.
Having picked up 13 points from a possible 15 this term, the Flower of Shanghai sit third in the league table, one point shy of current leaders Henan Songshan Longmen.
Coming up next is the challenge of an opposing outfit who have only lost one of the last 10 meetings between the teams dating back to 2017.
However, that solitary defeat did come in the most recent encounter on June 3, as Saturday's hosts secured a hard-fought 1-0 victory.
Guangzhou saw off the threat of Hebei in a tight affair on Sunday to pick up their first league win of the season at the fifth time of asking.
Liu Zhiyu's men broke the deadlock midway through the second period thanks to Liyu Yang, and that was enough to secure all three points at the Jinzhou Stadium.
The South China Tigers have moved up to 16th in the standings and are now level on points with Chengdu Rongcheng in the early battle for survival.
Off the back of six straight defeats on the road since the turn of the year, Saturday's visitors will be looking to turn things around away from home and pull further clear of the drop zone.
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Team News
Eighteen-year-old Afrden Asqer is suspended for Guangzhou after he was given his marching orders in the win over Hebei.
Shibo Liu is expected to fend off competition from Shenping Huo to retain his place between the sticks after keeping a clean sheet in the aforementioned match.
Ruofan Liu was absent from Shanghai's last outing with a minor injury, but the forward could make his return to action this weekend.
Chenije Zhu will be looking to deliver the goods for the home side once again following his winner in the last edition of this fixture.
Shanghai Shenhua possible starting lineup:
Ma; Li, Bi, Zhu, Bai; N'Doumbou, Wang, Wu, Cao; Zhu, Bassogog
Guangzhou possible starting lineup:
Liu; Wu, Li, Browning, Chen; Yang, Yan, Huang, Ling; Wei, Fan
We say: Shanghai Shenhua 2-0 Guangzhou
Buoyed their victory last time out, Guangzhou will head into Saturday's game full of confidence, but they will be going up against a Shanghai Shenhua side who are firing on all cylinders. We are backing the hosts to come away with all three points in the end.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Adepoju Marvellous
