The sixth round of the Chinese Super League sees a lot of action today, as a total of four matches kick off at 13:35 GMT on Friday afternoon.
Two teams that both need a win are Fabio Cannavaro’s Tianjian Quanjian and Beijing Guoan. The two teams are neighbours in the standings, with Tianjin leading by one point in seventh place and they face off in the capital today.
New signing Jonathan Soriano has yet to feature for the capital side and Burak Yilmaz has not scored in two games, while Renato Augusto has not been providing assists like he used to since coming to China. Beijing need this to change
For Tianjian, neither Alexandre Pato nor Axel Witsel have been particularly prolific and these two teams just can’t seem to score. Tianjin have scored four while Beijing have scored five so far this season. In their defence, they haven’t conceded massive amounts either, exactly the same as they’ve scored to be precise, so this match could very easily end in a 0-0 draw.
Third placed Guangzhou Evergrande take on underperforming Liaoning Whowin, while the other Guangzhou team, top of the table R&F, welcome Ramires and Jiangsu Suning, who are second from bottom and still without a win this season.
The final Friday match is between Hulk’s fourth-placed Shanghai SIPG and Ezequiel Lavezzi’s fifth-placed Hebei China Fortune. SIPG can go top if they take three points with a big win and Hebei can, at best, go second. Both teams need other results go in their favour for this to happen.
On Saturday, 11th-placed Tianjin TEDA welcomes Yanbian Funde, who currently sit in 14th, the spot above the relegation zone. The guests are still looking for their first win of the season, while TEDA will look to add to their one victory all the way back in the third round against Chongqing.
Another team looking for their first win this season is Guizhou Hengfeng. The last game on Saturday sees Guizhou take on Carlos Tevez’s Shanghai Shenhua who, despite winning their last game, have been poor this season with only two wins to their name.
Bottom dwellers Changchun Yatai will have to make do without former Watford man Odion Ighalo for four weeks, as the Nigerian had to be carried off the pitch after 73 minutes against Shanghai Shenhua last week. They welcome 13th placed and fellow zero-in-the-win-column, Henan Jianye to the Development Area Stadium in the first match on Sunday and will struggle without their star striker. A first win looks to be on the cards for Henan.
In the final match this round second-placed Shandong Luneng face Chongqing Lifan, who have started the season well and are sitting in sixth after five matches. If Chongqing can take this one they can go right up on Shandong’s back, only one point behind Graziano Pellè, Papiss Cissé and their teammates.