Wuhan Three Towns v Shanghai Port

The rise of Wuhan has been spectacular and the promoted club are going for a fifth win out of five in the top tier. With 14 goals scored in five games and conceding just two, they have been blowing teams away.

The last game was a 3-1 victory over Wuhan Yangtze with all the goals coming from Brazilian strike pairing Davidson and Marcao. The two are really starting to forge an understanding and their movement caused all kinds of problems.  Wuhan’s goal threat is even more dangerous as their 14 goals have come from eight different players. 

Shanghai Port defeated Guangzhou FC 1-0 earlier in the week but they struggled to penetrate the defence with poor final balls. Star midfielder  Oscar is still missing but is out of quarantine in Shanghai and will soon join the team. International midfielder Xu Xin returns after missing the last match but is unlikely to stop the Wuhan attacks. Aaron Mooy is now in quarantine after returning from international duty with Australia. Coach Ivan Lecco has yet to be able to field new signings Paulinho and Ndiaye have yet together as they are not at peak fitness and that is unlikely to change just yet.

Shanghai have only conceded three goals this season so far –and just scored three –but they have yet to face an attacking team like Wuhan and getting anything from this game would be a good result.

Changchun v Henan

There should be goals here. Henan have started the season on fire and have scored 12 goals in the four games so far and not less than two so far. They even hit champions Shandong for four in the second game. That was a counter-attacking masterclass from Henan with Fernando Karanga and Henrique Dourado too hard to handle on the frontline. 

If Henan, under their Spanish coach Javier Pereira not only are able to sit back and then get forward quickly but can play a more patient game too. In the most recent game, a 3-0 win over Guangzhou City, Henan kept the ball well, moved it around midfield as the local and foreign players are showing a good understanding and ability to work together and then got the goals. With threats coming from all over the pitch, Henan are likely to have too much for Changchun’s defence and should be able to keep up their impressive goalscoring record.

Changchun, who had a good season last year and finished fourth have yet to recapture that form and can be unpredictable. The team was very much second best when losing 4-0 against Shandong last week and three of the goals came from individual mistakes and this is where they can be punished again by Henan’s attackers.

Changchun also carry a goal threat and scored four against Guangzhou in the opening game of the season. They also have Junior Negrao who ended up as the top scorer last season. If they can give the Brazilian better service then they could score a goal or two themselves.

Guangzhou City v Zhejiang Professional

Guangzhou City struggled last season but this campaign so far has been something of a disaster with four losses from four and have only scored one goal and have conceded 10. They have been slightly unlucky as they have had to face Shandong and Henan already as well as Changchun, who finished fourth last season. They will see this game as a winnable one though both teams are in need of a good result.

Playing five at the back has not worked yet but against Zheijiang, the young wing-backs, who have struggled so far this season, will be looking to get forward. One problem for the team has been that the aging central midfielders have struggled to cover the gap that exists in front of the defence and opposition attackers have taken advantage of.

Zhejiang played the same four teams and performed better than Guangzhou. There was a narrow 1-0 loss to Shandong, a goalless draw against Changchun, there was a 3-1 loss to Henan and a 1-1 draw with Dalian.

That last game was encouraging. Zhejiang kept going after falling behind and it was noteworthy as it marked the first goal of the season for Nyasha Mushekwi. The Zimbabwean scored almost a goal a game last season and there had been whispers that he was finding life in the top tier too difficult but the strike will give him confidence and he should find Guangzhou’s defence more to his liking. Zhejiang have caused other teams more problems than Guangzhou did and should be in line for a first win of the season.

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Shanghai Shenhua v Wuhan Yangtze

Shenhua were too good for Hebei last time around and 3-1 flattered the losers who grabbed a consolation in the last minute. With three wins from the first four games of the season, they are level on points with the leaders and have now had their best start to a season for 14 years.

At the start of the season, Shenhua were focused on avoiding relegation but now their sights are set much higher and confidence is high and the players seem to be enjoying themselves. 

Wu Xi and Wang Haijian controlled the midfield against Hebei and ensured that their team had over 20 goalscoring opportunities. This time, Wang will be out suspended and Yu Hanchao is injured and not ready to step in. 

Even so, Shanghai should have what it takes to get the upper hand over Wuhan and with Cao Yunding on the left side of midfield in excellent form and Peng Xinli on the right looking good, Shanghai should be able to get behind the defence.

That is especially true this time as Wuhan left-back Xu Dong is likely to miss the game due to injury. That will be a big loss for Wuhan with Shanghai looking good down the flanks.

Wuhan have also had a great start to the season and their loss in the Wuhan derby ended their perfect record in the league so far. This is likely to be a tight game but with Shanghai full of confidence and in excellent form, they should just shade it.

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