Wuhan Yangtze River vs Shanghai Port
A mid-table Chinese Super League showdown pits Wuhan Yangtze River against Shanghai Port at the Wuhan Sports Center Stadium.
It’s been a mixed start to the new Chinese Super League season for Wuhan Yangtze River. After launching the new top-flight campaign with three consecutive victories, they have lost back-to-back league games by a two-goal margin each. Wuhan’s hopes of clawing their way back to winning ways will hinge on a flying start. Indeed, their three league wins this season have all seen them open the scoring and prevail by a single-goal margin, including a 1-0 triumph in the reverse fixture on Matchday 1. However, the ‘Han Army’ are still waiting for their first-ever home league win over Shanghai Port (D3, L3). They drew a blank in four of those six H2Hs, implying that scoring could be an issue.
Meanwhile, Shanghai Port failed to recover from conceding twice inside the opening 25 minutes of play in a 2-1 defeat away to Wuhan Three Towns last time out. It marked the visitors’ third top-flight defeat of the season. More importantly, a sub-par display against the current runners-up arrested Shanghai’s two-game winning league streak. Though none of Shanghai’s five Chinese Super League fixtures this season have ended level (W2, L3), goals have been hard to come by. Their opening four league outings had seen the winner keep a clean sheet in matches garnering under 2.5 total goals. Topically, four of their six top-flight visits to Wuhan have featured one goal or less.