Tianjin Jinmen Tiger welcome Beijing Guoan to the Meixian Tsang Hin-Chi Stadium on Sunday looking to record a fourth straight victory.
Meanwhile, the away side make the journey looking to get back to winning ways off the back of consecutive stalemates in each of their last two outings.
Match preview
Tianjin Jinmen Tiger saw off the threat of a highly-spirited Shenzhen FC side in an enthralling 3-2 contest on Wednesday morning.
Having trailed 2-1 heading into the half-time break, second-half goals from Dun Ba and Robert Beric completed a spectacular turnaround for Yu Genwei's men.
With 10 points from the last 12 available, the Tigers have moved up to sixth place in the league table and are now just four points adrift in the race for the last continental spot.
Lying in store next is the task of facing off against an opposing side who have lost only one of the last 11 meetings between the teams since 2018.
Off the back of a 1-0 triumph over Meizhou Hakka in their last home match, Sunday's hosts now set out to secure back to back wins in front of their fans for the first time since the turn of the year.
Beijing Guoan played out a third share of the spoils in four matches courtesy of a goalless draw against Chengdu Rongcheng on Thursday.
Xie Feng's men failed to score for the first time this season following a largely toothless display at the Wuhua County Olympic Sports Centre.
The Imperial Guards remain fifth in the standings, one point and one place above their next opponents ahead of this weekend's duel.
One of only three teams yet to suffer defeat on the road this term, Sunday's visitors will be confident of coming away with another positive result on the road.
- L
- L
- D
- W
- W
- W
- W
- W
- D
- W
- D
- D
Team News
Marko Dabro grabbed the winning goal for Beijing in the last edition of this weekend's fixture, and the Croatian will be hopeful of making a similar impact.
Despite failing to find the back of the net last time out, Yuning Zhang still leads the scoring charts with six goals, making him one to look out for.
Midfielder Dun Ba is expected to play a crucial role for Tianjin Jinmen Tiger having scored three times in his most recent three outings.
After coming off the bench to grab a crucial winner against Shenzhen, 31-year-old Robert Beric could be rewarded with a place in the starting XI.
Tianjin Jinmen Tiger possible starting lineup:
Xu; Wang, Yang, Andujar, Su; Shi, Beric, Tian, Wang, Ba; Xie
Beijing Guoan possible starting lineup:
Hou; Zhang, Yu, Memisevic, Liu; Zhang, Chi, Gao, Liu; Zhang, Dabro
We say: Tianjin Jinmen Tiger 1-1 Beijing Guoan
Beijing boast a very good record in this fixture, and they will back themselves to get the job done on Sunday. However, Tianjin are playing with real belief at the moment, so we are backing a share of the spoils here.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
