Guangzhou City vs Dalian Pro

Yuexiushan Stadium is the venue as relegation-threatened Guangzhou City take on fellow bottom-half rivals Dalian Pro in a must-win Chinese Super League encounter.

It’s still an early season, yet Guangzhou City already give the impression of being one of the hottest relegation candidates. Coming into this matchday, they are one of just two sides to have lost all six opening league matches. In doing so, the ‘Blue Lions’ have conceded a league joint-high 17 goals, scoring just four in return. Indeed, the home side’s defensive frailties have seen them let in 3+ goals in their last three Chinese Super League outings. Particularly vulnerable before half-time, Jean-Paul van Gastel’s men have conceded the division-high ten first-half goals this season. They have netted just a single first-half goal in return, highlighting their massive problems in the opening stages of play.

In the meantime, Dalian Pro head into proceedings in the midst of a rough patch, having gone from a pair of 1-1 draws to back-to-back defeats ‘to nil.’ More importantly, they conceded 2+ goals in each reverse after shipping just two goals in three previous league matches combined. It goes from bad to worse, as Dalian have yet to win a single top-flight game on hostile turf in 2022 (D2, L2). In fact, since a 2-1 victory at Qingdao in mid-December 2021, they have gone winless in six consecutive away league fixtures (D3, L3), drawing a blank three times in the process.