Preview: Wuhan Three Towns vs. Shandong Taishan - prediction, team news, lineups

Shandong Taishan will attempt to claim a fourth consecutive victory when they travel to the Wuhan Sports Centre to face Wuhan Three Towns on Friday.

The hosts, who occupy eighth position in the Chinese Super League table, will be looking to claim their first home win of the Chinese Super League season.

Match preview

Since recording consecutive victories over Meizhou Hakka and Qingdao Hainiu at the end of April, Wuhan's progress has been hampered by a number of draws.

Five of their last seven matches have finished all square including their most recent outing against Tianjin Jinmen Tiger.

Ademilson scored an early opener for Wuhan, before Wang Qiuming restored parity in the 14th minute, and with neither side able to find a winner, both teams had to be content with a share of the spoils.

After playing out an away draw, Wuhan will now return to the Wuhan Sports Centre, where they are yet to win in the league this season after drawing three and losing one of their opening four home matches.

However, Wuhan will take confidence from the fact that they have already beaten Shandong this term, winning 2-0 in April to lift the Chinese Super Cup.

Shandong, meanwhile, will head into the contest in a confident mood after winning their last three games without conceding a single goal.

In their most recent outing, Choi Kang-hee's side claimed a 2-0 home victory over Dalian Pro thanks to first-half strikes from Marouane Fellaini and Huang Zhengyu.

After extending their unbeaten in six matches, Shandong are now sitting in sixth position and are two points clear of Friday's opponents.

The visitors will now head on their travels, where they have struggled for victories this season, having won just one of their seven away league games.

However, that sole victory did take place in their most recent away match against Qingdao Hainiu, and they will be looking to claim consecutive victories on the road on Friday.

Team News

After missing three matches for Wuhan, Davidson made his return as a substitute against Tianjin, and he is expected to be on the bench for Thursday's contest.

Despite having to settle for a point on Sunday, Morilla could opt for consistency and name an unchanged lineup.

Ademilson is set to lead the line once again, and the Brazilian will be looking to add to his three-goal tally for the 2023 season.

As for the visitors, Gouwen Sun has had to settle for a place on the bench for the last two matches, but he is in contention to start against Wuhan.

After dropping down to the bench for Saturday's win over Dalian, Lisheng Liao could be recalled to the starting lineup.

Having scored four goals in the Chinese Super League this season, Fellaini will retain his place in the Shandong forward line.

Wuhan Three Towns possible starting lineup:

D.Liu; Deng, Y. Liu, Wallace, Gao; Xie, Yan, Zhang, Stanciu, Wei; Ademilson

Shandong Taishan possible starting lineup:

D. Wang; T. Wang, Shi, Zheng, Sun; Liao, Huang; Liu, Cryzan, Chen; Fellaini

We say: Wuhan Three Towns 1-1 Shandong Taishan

Although Wuhan got the better of Shandong in the Super Cup, they have been hampered by a number of draws in their league campaign, and we think that they will be held to another point on Friday.

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