With the league far from settling down after only two rounds to play there could still be somewhat of a gap opening up at the end of the weekend. Let’s dive straight into the action.
The first match of this weekend’s bunch kicks off in a little over an hour when Dalian Yifang will attempt to get their first Super League points when they welcome Beijing Guoan to the Dalian Sports Center Stadium. After the dreadful 8-0 beating at the hands of Shanghai SIPG it got better last week with Guangzhou R&F “only” winning 2-0. Perhaps a point could be on the cards against a Beijing side with a mixed start to the season. Guoan picked up their first win last week against a Ramires-less Jiangsu Suning and if they have any ambition of getting anywhere near the Champions League spots this season they need to kick on from that.
The early kick-off tomorrow is a big match between Hebei China Fortune and Shandong Luneng. Shandong is one of three teams with two wins from two as Beijing Guoan and Chongqing fell at the wayside. Hebei drew with Tianjin TEDA in the first match before beating Guizhou Hengfeng. A goal-heavy match could be on the cards in this one.
The final match of the short Saturday set sees Chongqing Lifan host Jiangsu Suning. As mentioned Chongqing lost to Shandong last week while Jiangsu lost to Beijing. Both teams sit with three points so far as both won on the opening day. A win for either side is important as neither team would want to end up in a relegation scrap early on. Those are hard to get out of, Suning can tell you that.
There’s two early kick offs on Sunday this weekend. In one Changchun Yatai play Beijing Renhe and in the other, Guangzhou R&F play Shanghai SIPG. So one really big match, and one rather small. Let’s start with the big one.
Both Shanghai SIPG and Guangzhou R&F are unbeaten this season and both have a 100% record in terms of wins. That WILL change this week. What may not change is the fact that SIPG have yet to concede a goal this season, the only team to do so alongside Shandong. A great game is expected and there will probably be many goals as well.
Beijing Renhe have started the season decently with one win and a loss, the win even coming against Tianjin Quanjian. As for Changchun Yatai it is a poor start with only one point for a team that should be expecting a finish inside the top ten. Can Renhe continue their good start or will Yatai pull themselves together?
Guangzhou Evergrande play Henan Jianye in the main part of the round on Sunday. Evergrande have already lost a little gorund after the opening day loss to city rivals R&F, something they rectified against Changchun last round with a 5-0 beating. The same may happen to Henan who, for now, are on the same amount of points as their opponents.
Dalian may have had a poor start to the season but an equally poor start has been had by Guizhou Hengfeng, although with slightly better looking scorelines. Shanghai Shenhua haven’t had a much better start as only one point from the opening two is not happy reading. Poor form in the Champions League as well means that Guizhou could very well get their first points of this campaign.
And finally, the big game of this round. Tianjin Quanjian against Tianjin TEDA. The Tianjin Derby. Both teams have had a decent start to the season and the match is sure to be an exciting one. We will give you even more of a preview on the game tomorrow in our Derby Days series.