Cangzhou Mighty Lions play host to Tianjin Jinmen Tiger at the Yutong International Sports Center on Tuesday in round five of the 2022 Chinese Super League season.
Both teams have been largely underwhelming of late and will be keen to get themselves back on track by securing all three points in this one.
Match preview
Cangzhou saw their three-game unbeaten streak come to an end following a 1-0 defeat against Shenzhen FC on Thursday at the Wuhua Hengpi Football Town.
Frank Acheampong's sixth-minute strike proved to be the difference as Svetozar Sapuric's men failed to find the back of the net for the third time in five games.
The Mighty Lions have slipped down to 11th place in the league table and are now a whopping eight points off the top of the pile.
Next up is the visit of an opposing side who are yet to come out victorious on any of their previous four trips, losing three of them.
Unbeaten in their last six home games, Tuesday's hosts will be confident of continuing their already-established dominance in this fixture.
Tianjin Jinmen had to settle for a point last time out courtesy of a 1-1 stalemate against Chengdu Rongcheng in a keenly-contested affair on Thursday.
Yu Genwei's men went behind to Gan Chao's men's 18th-minute opener before restoring parity right on the hour mark through Wang Qiuming.
Having amassed just two points from four outings this term, the Tigers currently occupy 14th place in the standings, outside the relegation zone only on goal difference.
Tuesday's visitors follow up the clash with an encounter against Meizhou Hakka four days later, while the home side prepare for the challenge of Beijing Guoan.
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- L
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- L
- D
Team News
Thirty-two-year-old Zhou Tong is a doubt for this one after missing Tianjin's last outing against Chengdu through a minor hamstring injury.
The involvement of Yuanjie Su is also currently hanging in the balance as the forward came off with a first-half injury in the aforementioned game.
With his side struggling in front of goal, Svetozar Sapuric might be tempted to make some changes in front of goal which could see the likes of Zang Yifeng and Fuyu Ma handed rare starts.
Congolese forward Oscar Maritu has been directly involved in two of his side's three goals so far, making him one to keep an eye on.
Cangzhou Mighty Lions possible starting lineup:
Shao; X. Yang, Chen, Liu, Y. Yang; Iskandar, Guo, Liu, Ma; Yifeng, Mihajlovic
Tianjin Jinmen Tiger possible starting lineup:
Xu; Bai, Yang, Andujar, Zihao; Tian, Wang, Sun; Ba, Rosa, Radonjic
We say: Cangzhou Mighty Lions 2-1 Tianjin Jinmen Tiger
Cangzhou are on a slightly better run of results coming into this one, and coupled with the added advantage of playing on home turf, we are backing them to come away with all three points, albeit by only a narrow margin.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Adepoju Marvellous
