An in-form Shanghai Shenhua will be looking to keep the pressure on the league leaders when they play host to a struggling Nantong Zhiyun side in the Chinese Super League on Wednesday.
The hosts are currently in second place in the CSL standings with 25 points, four behind their cross-town rivals Shanghai Port while the visitors have taken just nine points in 12 matches and are down in 14th place.
Match preview
Shanghai Shenhua continued their promising start to the season by beating Qingdao Hainiu in their last league match, extending their recent unbeaten run in the league to three matches, which included a draw and back-to-back wins ahead of this one.
They received another huge confidence boost in midweek when they came from behind with two goals in the final four minutes of the match to beat Yunnan Yukan 2-1 in the Chinese FA Cup, setting up a fourth-round encounter against last year's runners-up Zhejiang next month.
In league terms, Shenhua are notably better than they were last season when they finished 10th and are currently one of only a handful of sides that are still unbeaten at home this season, recording three wins and three draws in six matches at Shanghai Stadium.
The Flower of Shanghai are the best defensive team in the league this year, having only let in seven goals to date and recording clean sheets in half of their matches, while they are also the only team to have scored in every league match this season.
Jingui Wu's side led the division after the first six matches but were forced backwards after a run of four consecutive winless matches, which included their only loss in the league so far this season away to Chengdu Rongcheng.
However, having managed two solid results on the road since then, the hosts seem to have got past their difficult patch and will be heavily fancied to pick up another three points in this one.
Meanwhile, after securing promotion to the Chinese Super League for the first time in their history, Nantong Zhiyun have found it hard to put together a meaningful run of results, managing just two wins with a third of the campaign already complete.
With both their wins this season coming at home, Nantong Zhiyun have the third-worst away record of any side in the CSL, with two draws and four losses in six matches on the road, scoring four and conceding eight in that time.
The most notable issue has been the side's evident lack of attacking strength, as they are worst-performing in terms of scoring stats, hitting the net just eight times in the league this season, with Rubilio Castillo bagging four of those.
The visitors have not won an away league game in their last eight attempts, which is a record that extends all the way back to the beginning of November last year when they overcame Heilongjiang Lava in the Chinese League One.
Following their 2-1 loss to Shanghai Port in their last league match, Nantong Zhiyun decided to part ways with David Patricio, with former Barcelona star Gabri being appointed as the new head coach.
The Spaniard made an excellent impression in his first match in charge as his side overcame Heilongjiang Ice City 3-0 to reach the fourth round of the FA Cup, and he will be hoping to produce a similar type of performance on his league debut in the dugout.
Team News
Having had the opportunity to rest several of his key players for the FA Cup match, Wu has a full squad at his disposal with no reported injuries coming into this one.
While Wu has experimented with several different formations this season, the Shanghai Shenhua boss has mainly used the same group of players, and based on their performances of late, it would come as no surprise if he opted for an unchanged lineup to the side he has fielded in their last three league games.
Gabri made as many as 10 changes to his predecessor's side in their cup match last week, with only Bressan retaining his spot in the first 11.
The new boss will likely revert to a more familiar lineup here, with Castillo returning to lead the line with the support of Romario Balde and Ming-Yang Yang just behind him, while the only injury absentee will be Oumar Camara, who is out with an ankle sprain.
Gui Hong, Zheng Haoqian and Kamiran Halimurat all scored in that 3-0 win, putting themselves on the radar of the new boss, and they will be hoping to hear their number called in the starting 11 for this match.
Shanghai Shenhua possible starting lineup:
Bao; Jin, Jiang, Francis; Hing-Glover, Wang, Amadou, Yu, Xu, Liu; Malele
Nantong Zhiyun possible starting lineup:
Shi; Shinar, W Liu, Bressan, H Liu; Zheng, Morelatto, Cao, Balde, Yang; Castillo
We say: Shanghai Shenhua 2-1 Nantong Zhiyun
The visitors will be hoping that their change in leadership can help them turn their season around, but following two crucial away wins, the hosts come into this match with their tails up and will be expecting nothing less than all three points. It should be an intriguing contest, but we fancy the home team to get the job done here.
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Top tip
Devesh Jaganath
