While the majority of top leagues across Europe have come to an end, there are plenty of others across the globe that are continuing to thrive - including the Chinese Super League. There’s so much to get excited about in China’s top tier and in the weeks and months ahead, there’s still a lot of football to be played. Today, we’ll be taking a look at the upcoming clash between Shanghai Port and Cangzhou Mighty Lions.
Shanghai Form GuideWhen you win the league title as impressively as Shanghai Port did last season, there are bound to be plenty of challengers coming for your throne as you try to defend it. Thankfully for them, the early signs indicate that they may well have gotten even better than they once were. Of course, in a league like this one, they can’t afford to have any kind of major slip-ups.
So far, so good to start the season for the champions. They’ve played 12 games up to this point and they’ve managed to go unbeaten, winning nine and drawing three. They’ve also scored an insane 39 goals in that time, giving you an idea of just how prolific they can be.
Cangzhou Form GuideCangzhou’s end to last season, to put it bluntly, was pretty terrible. They really did have their feet up for a while once they realised they weren’t going to go down, and their supporters deserve better than that. If they can start to utilise some of their (very underrated) star players then maybe, just maybe, they can start to think about having a more successful campaign.
Cangzhou are 9th in the table after 13 games but in their last five, they’ve gone winless, which has seen them lose a lot of the momentum they had just a few months ago. They’re still not too far away from the top six, but they aren’t quite the bright spark they once were.
Match PredictionWe’d like to believe that this is going to be an entertaining affair, if only because unpredictability is one of the best things about the beautiful game. Alas, when you look at all the facts as they stand, we can’t picture it happening - which is why we’re favouring a Shanghai win.