Unbeaten in their last six outings, Shanghai Port will do battle with Guangzhou City at the Shanghai Stadium on Sunday in gameweek 17 of the 2022 Chinese Super League campaign.
Elsewhere, the visiting team take to the road looking to secure three consecutive victories for the first time this season and continue their surge up the table.
Match preview
Shanghai Port were victorious away from home for the first time since July following a 2-1 win over Henan Songshan Longmen at the Zhengzhou Hanghai Stadium on Tuesday.
Ivan Leko's men raced to a two-goal lead at half time thanks to strikes from Tyias Browning and Huikang Cai before Tomas Pina pulled one back in the 81st minute.
The Red Eagles remain seventh in the Chinese Super League table, three points behind Shanghai Shenhua in the race for the last continental spot.
Coming up next is the challenge of an opposing outfit who are without a victory in the last six meetings between the teams, losing five of them.
With just one defeat in seven home matches heading into this weekend's contest, Sunday's hosts have proven themselves to be a tough nut to crack in front of their fans.
Guangzhou City saw off the threat of city rivals Guangzhou Football Club in a narrow 1-0 triumph at the Yuexiushan Stadium two Tuesdays ago.
Li Weifeng's men opened the scoring right on the hour mark through Yongjia Li, and that was enough to get the job done in a fiercely-contested derby.
Consequently, the Blue Lions are now just three points adrift of safety despite having gone on a 13-game losing streak from June to August.
Off the back of five straight defeats on the road by a combined score of 9-2, Sunday's visitors have some work to do at both ends of the pitch as they look to avoid another fruitless outing away from home.
Team News
Twenty-one-year-old Ablahan Haliq is ruled out for Shanghai Port as he continues to battle with a long-term muscle problem.
Oscar is yet to feature in any game for this weekend's hosts since July 12, and the Brazilian will miss also Sunday's contest as well, while Huachen Zhang is suspended.
Guangzhou City's Miao Tang is a guaranteed absentee for this one as the defender is yet to fully recuperate from a torn meniscus.
Having made his return to action from a ruptured cruciate ligament with three straight appearances off the bench, Chugui Ye will be pushing for a start here.
Shanghai Port possible starting lineup:
Yan; Wang, Li, Browning, Zhang; Zhen, Cai; Lu, Paulinho, Kallon; Ndiaye
Guangzhou City possible starting lineup:
Han; Ning, Fu, Jiang, Yi, Liao; Guilherme, Zhang, Li, Li; Song
We say: Shanghai Port 2-0 Guangzhou City
Despite their recent resurgence, Guangzhou City have it all to do in this one against opponents of vastly superior quality. We are backing the home side to cruise to all three points at the end of the 90 minutes.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Adepoju Marvellous
