In search of a third victory on the bounce, in-form Dalian Pro welcome Beijing Guoan to the Dalian Sports Center Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Meanwhile, the visitors make the trip aiming to record back to back victories having returned to winning ways in their most recent encounter.
Match preview
Beijing Guoan saw off the threat of Hebei FC courtesy of a routine 3-1 victory when the sides faced off at the Workers' Stadium on Wednesday.
Stanley Menzo's men possessed a narrow 2-1 lead at half time following strikes from Xizhe Zhang and Ziming Wang after which Yuning Zhang put the game to bed five minutes into the second period.
As a result, the Imperial Guards have moved up to ninth place in the league table but are still seven points behind Shanghai Shenhua in the race for the last continental spot.
Coming up next is the challenge of an opposing outfit who have lost each of the last nine meetings between the teams dating back to August 2013.
Having ended a run of three straight away defeats in their last outing on the road, Saturday's visitors now set out to pick up consecutive wins on enemy territory for the first time this term.
Dalian Pro picked up where they left off before the mid-season break as they saw off the threat of Hebei in a narrow 2-1 triumph on Tuesday.
Xie Hui's men broke the deadlock in the 13th minute through Borislav Tsonev, but they were pegged back by Huaze Gao just past the half-hour mark before eventually regaining the lead through Xiangchuang Yan.
The Blue Hawks have climbed up to 13th place in the Chinese Super League standings and now sit seven points clear of the relegation zone despite a rough start to the season.
Off the back of three wins and a draw in their last four home encounters, Saturday's hosts will be confident of continuing their recent resurgence on home turf.
Team News
Having supplied a goal and an assist last time out, Xiangchuang Yan has now been directly involved in 11 goals for Dalian Pro this term, making him one to look out for.
Twenty-five-year-old Kudirat Ablet remains unavailable for this weekend's hosts, with his last appearance coming back in November 2021.
Following his clincher against Hebei, Yuning Zhang is now up to 11 goals for the season, only behind Wuhan Three Towns' Marcao who has netted a whopping 16 times.
Chinese defender Pengxiang Jin could finally make his return to action in this one after being named on the substitutes' bench for the last two matches.
Dalian Pro possible starting lineup:
Wu; Lu, Dong, Huang, Sun; Fei, Tsonev, Lu; Shang, Yan, Mamba
Beijing Guoan possible starting lineup:
Zou; Wang, Yu, Bai, Kang; Dabro, Gao, Chi, Zhang, Wang; Zhang
We say: Dalian Pro 1-2 Beijing Guoan
Given their dominance in this fixture, Beijing Guoan will fancy themselves to get the job done, and while we expect Dalian Pro to put up a good fight, we are tipping the visitors to carry the day in the end.
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