Round nine of the 2022 Chinese Super League season commences with a clash involving Zhejiang Professional and Dalian Pro at the Mission Hills Football Base Stadium on Wednesday.
Both teams will be looking to get back to winning ways in this one having failed to come away with all three points in their respective last outings.
Match preview
Zhejiang Professional saw their four-game unbeaten streak come to an end following a 1-0 loss to Henan Songshan Longmen on Sunday.
Yihao Zhong opened the scoring two minutes shy of the hour mark, and that was enough to put Jordi Vinyals's men to the sword at the Wuyuan River Stadium.
Consequently, the Green Giants have dropped down to 13th spot in the league table but are only just two points off a place in the top half.
Coming up next is the challenge of an opposing outfit with little to pick between the teams, as the last six meetings have yielded four draws and a win apiece for either side.
Off the back of a first defeat in six home outings last time out, Wednesday's hosts will be aiming to make it up to their fans with a perfect response in this one.
In search of consecutive wins for the first time this term, Dalian Pro played out a 2-2 stalemate versus Changchun Yatai in Monday's encounter.
Xie Hui's men took the lead on two occasions through Yin Shang and Wei Wu but they were pegged back both times thanks to Jores Okore and Junior Negao.
The Blue Hawks currently occupy 11th place in the standings and will be looking to string together a decent run of results following a largely inconsistent start to the new campaign.
Having picked up a first away win in seven games in their last involvement on the road, Wednesday's visitors set out to record back to back wins on enemy territory for the first time since December.
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Team News
Twenty-five-year-old Wei Wu will be pushing for a start here after coming off the bench to good effect for Dalian Pro against Changchun Yatai.
With six direct goal involvement recorded in eight games so far, Xiangchuang Yan will be looking to come up with the goods for the away side once again.
Despite seeing his three-game scoring streak come to an end last time out, Croatian midfielder Franko Andrijasevic remains one to keep an eye on.
Bin Gu was dropped to the bench for the first time this term against Henan Songshan Longmen, but the defender could make his return to the XI for this one.
Zhejiang Professional possible starting lineup:
Zhao; Gao, Sun, Leung, Yue; Ewolo, Yao, Zhang, Cheng; Mushekwi, Andrijasevic
Dalian Pro possible starting lineup:
Wang; Dong, Huang, Wang; Zhu, Fei, Lu, Sun; Shang, Yan, Lin
We say: Zhejiang Professional 1-1 Dalian Pro
Judging by recent meetings between the sides, a tight affair is expected here, and we can see the game panning out that way with both teams settling for a point apiece in the end.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Adepoju Marvellous
