We continue to fly through the Chinese Super League campaign as teams across the top tier attempt to push towards their ultimate goal - whether it be the title, survival or somewhere in between. Today, we’ll be taking a look at an important clash between Hangzhou Greentown and Dalian Aerbin.
Hangzhou Form GuideAfter 25 years of existence, Hangzhou Greentown have certainly made themselves known as regulars in the top flight. Last season was a great showing as they finished in third, with their only superior performances being two runners-up medals. While they’ve been able to look good in a lot of their recent outings, they need to maintain that momentum if they’re serious about becoming contenders.
Hangzhou have done well to go unbeaten to kickstart the month of August. They defeated Wuhan 2-1 before earning a point against Nantong, and then in a seven-goal thriller away at Shanghai, they picked up a stunning 4-3 win. It was a bit anticlimactic, then, that they proceeded to draw 0-0 at home to Qingdao.
Dalian Form GuideThey’ve won just three games all season and yet, given the quality (or lack of) the sides around them, there’s still a decent chance that Dalian could survive. They are the definition of ultimate underdogs in every way imaginable and even though they have a few flair players that could cause some problems here and there, it’ll take a tremendous effort for them to stay in the big time.
Dalian did what few expected they would on August 5th as they turned over Shenhua in a stunning 2-1 victory. They did follow that up with a 2-1 loss to Shijiazhuang, but they rebounded with a narrow win over Shenzhen before they came crashing back down to earth in a defeat to Henan.
Match PredictionThe hosts are on the climb and the visitors continue to struggle. It really is as simple as that, and you just have to decide whether or not Dalian have a hope of causing their opponents any real problems outside of a puncher’s chance. In terms of a prediction, we’re going to favour a Hangzhou win.
