Two sides separated by a single point will face off in the CSL this weekend, with Beijing Guoan playing host to Wuhan Three Towns at Workers' Stadium on Sunday.
Beijing Guoan's poor away record was extended in their last match when they were beaten 3-1 by Meizhou Hakka, while the reigning champions were beaten by the same scoreline by the current league leaders Shanghai Port.
Match preview
The second half of the league campaign did not start as hoped for the hosts as Ricardo Soares looked a frustrated figure after a relegation-threatened Meizhou Hakka beat his side in midweek.
A poor first-half display saw Soares's men go 2-0 down inside the first half-hour before Han Jiaqi's own goal on the stroke of half time knocked any remaining wind out of their sails, with Wang Ziming's late goal proving to be nothing more than a consolation.
While that result did not hurt their league position, it did widen the gap to the AFC Champions League qualification spots to six points while also leaving the door open for the likes of Changchun Yatai to overtake them if they were to lose here.
However, Beijing Guoan have only lost once at home this season, taking 15 points from a possible 24, which is the third-best among all teams in the league, and they are also the highest-scoring side with 19 goals in just eight home matches.
Their form on the road has been the major reason they are not higher up than their current sixth-placed ranking, but with two home matches to come, Soares will almost certainly be targeting six points from those fixtures.
Meanwhile, the defending champions saw their run of seven consecutive games without defeat halted by their potential successors as they were beaten 3-1 after playing the second half with ten men.
Ren Hang was shown a second yellow for protesting a refereeing decision in a chaotic end to the half and Wei Shihao was shown a straight red while still on the bench for the same infringement.
With a man light, Tsutomu Takahata's side conceded three goals in the second half but did finish the match well and got a goal for their efforts after Port's Jiang Guangtai was sent off in the last 10 minutes.
Wuhan TT would have moved above Beijing Guoan in the league table had they won that match; instead, they slipped a spot to eighth and are now a massive 14 points behind the current CSL leaders.
On the positive side, though, the visitors do still have a very good away record, with that loss being only their second this season, while they have taken the third-most points of any side on the road with 15 in nine games.
Notably, what we have here is the highest-scoring team in home matches in the league taking on the team that have scored the most goals in away matches, which suggests that we are in for an entertaining clash.
Team News
Soares has a fairly lengthy casualty list, with Yuning Zhang (ankle), Liyu Yang (ankle), Lei Li (thigh), and Cheng Piao (bicep) all ruled out for this fixture.
Sang-Woo Kang has been flagged as a doubt with a shoulder injury, although he has not been completely ruled out just yet.
Hang will miss this match after receiving his marching orders in midweek, while Shihao will start the first of his three-match ban.
Abdul-Aziz Yakubu got his sixth goal in his last five matches against Shanghai Port and will almost certainly start up top with Davidson in the number 10 role.
Beijing Guoan possible starting lineup:
Han; Feng, Ngadeu, Bai, Zhang; Gao, Souza, Chi, Muhmet; Ziming, Adegbenro
Wuhan Three Towns possible starting lineup:
D Liu; Wang, Y. Liu, Li, Gao; Stanciu, He, Xie, Yan, Davidson; Yakubu
We say: Beijing Guoan 2-2 Wuhan Three Towns
Despite playing most of the last match with 10 men, Wuhan Three Towns attacked the game as best as they could and were trading blows with their opponents up to the sending off. Beijing Guoan are also a side that likes playing front-foot football, and it would not be surprising to see a handful of goals fly in here.
The visitors were building up a head of steam leading up to their last match and should give a much better account of themselves here, while the hosts will play their usual attacking brand of football. We feel they will cancel each other out in a high-scoring affair.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Devesh Jaganath
