The defending CSL champions Wuhan Three Towns will play host to Changchun Yatai at the Wuhan Sports Center Stadium on Saturday.
Both sides moved up the table by securing 3-1 wins in their last match, with the hosts overtaking Zhejiang into eighth place while the visitors broke into the top five after Shandong Taishan were held to a 1-1 draw against Shanghai Port.
Match preview
It is fair to say that this season has not gone according to plan as yet for Wuhan Three Towns, as the title holders find themselves in mid-table after 14 matches and 13 points behind the current league leaders Shanghai Port.
While they have only lost two matches this season, the hosts have dropped points far too regularly, drawing eight matches already, which included three in their last four league outings and seven in their last 10.
After their rocky start to the season, Wuhan TT decided to part ways with Pedro Morilla, who steered the side to promotion and went on to lead them to the title last year, with Tsutomu Takahata being appointed as his successor.
The new boss evidently has a lot of work to do, though, as his side currently have the second-worst home record in the league, with five draws and a loss in six matches at the Wuhan Sports Center Stadium, and they are the only side in the CSL that have not won a single home match this term.
However, their win over Shenzhen, thanks to a hat-trick by their Ghanaian international striker Abdul-Aziz Yakubu would have done wonders for their confidence after four matches without a win, and Takahata will be hoping that result can spark a turn in their fortunes as they head into the second half of the season.
Meanwhile, Changchun Yatai, who are now fifth in the CSL, have been enjoying an excellent change in form from last season, when they were only able to manage a 13th-placed finish with 44 points after 34 matches.
Their 3-1 win over Henan was their seventh of the season and saw them move to 23 points after 14 matches, just four points behind Chengdu Rongcheng in the third and final AFC Champions League qualifier spot.
Chen Yang's gameplan up to this stage of the season has been fairly simple and is based on outscoring their opponents, which becomes evident when we look at their recent results, where two of their last five matches saw seven goals fly in while none of those five games ended with fewer than four goals scored.
The visitors are the highest-scoring side in the league this season with 27, but they will need to address their defensive frailties if they are to remain in contention for the continental cup competitions next year.
Yang's side have kept only two clean sheets this season and have conceded the third-most goals of any side (25), with only relegation-contenders Shenzhen (31) and Meizhou Hakka (26) shipping more.
With their opponents also seeming to have found some form in front of goal of late, bagging eight goals in their last three matches in all competitions, we could have another goal-fest on our hands in this one.
Team News
Takahata's decision to go with a lone striker in the last match seemed to work like a charm as Yakubu led the line impeccably, and it would come as no surprise if we saw a similar setup in this match.
The midfield trio of Pengfei Xie, Dinghao Yan and Nicolae Stanciu controlled that match well in the centre of the park and picked up an assist each, which should be enough to see them remain in the starting 11 and will likely mean that Ademilson will have to settle for a second consecutive match on the bench.
Tan Long's opener against Henan last week was his sixth of the season, making him the side's top scorer, and he will almost certainly lead the line again in this match.
In defence, Jores Okore and Zhiyu Yan were returned to the starting lineup last week and are favoured to keep their places in this one, while Hong Li and Qi Cui will be hoping to complete the backline alongside them.
Wuhan Three Towns possible starting lineup:
D Liu; Deng, Y Liu, Ren, Gao; He, Stanciu, Xie, Yan, Davidson; Yakubu
Changchun Yatai possible starting lineup:
Wu; Yan, Okore, Yi, Liao; Liu, Zulj, Zhang, Wang; Serginho, Tan
We say: Wuhan Three Towns 3-2 Changchun Yatai
We saw five goals scored when these sides met in November last year, and based on their records since then, this looks set to be another high-scoring encounter. Despite their poor home record this season, the hosts do have a better defence, which is why we feel they may just edge this one.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Devesh Jaganath
