A few years ago, the Chinese Super League went under the radar on the world football scene but it’s becoming more well-known nowadays. One of the biggest fixtures of matchday 18 sees Henan Jianye host Guangzhou Evergrande.

STATS

• After 17 games, it’s clear that Henan Jianye are struggling to compete with the bigger spenders in the division as they sit 13^th in the league out of 16. They’ve had real mixed fortunes over their last five games with two wins, two losses and a draw following their 2-0 defeat to Tianjin Teda on Friday.
• Following another summer of spending big on players, Guangzhou Evergrande are battling towards the top end of the table. They sit 4^th with just 16 games under their belts and the top two sides have both played an extra match. Their record over the last five games is brilliant with four wins and just one loss. However, that loss came in their last game as they were beaten 3-2 by Changchun Yatai.
• Former West Ham forward, Ricardo Vaz Te has been in good form for the hosts this season. With four goals, he’s joint with Christian Bassogog as his side’s top goalscorer.
• Plenty of Brazilian players have made their mark on the Super League this term and Guangzhou have their fair share: Ricardo Goulart is their leading scorer with nine goals.

HEAD TO HEAD

Guangzhou have dominated the recent meetings between these two sides, winning all four of the last four fixtures. They narrowly beat Jianye back in March when they faced earlier in the campaign with a 1-0 victory. That was the only match out of the four where both teams failed to score as the other three games all saw goals from both sides. In this fixture last term, Guangzhou ran out 4-2 winners.

HENAN JIANYE NEWS

A win would be massively welcomed with the hosts currently fighting a relegation battle but they are up against one of the country’s strongest outfits. It won’t be easy for them to come away with any points.

Latest matches: FC Henan Jianye

10.08.2018	Chin	Tianjin Teda	FC Henan Jianye	2:0	L
04.08.2018	Chin	Tianjin Songjiang	FC Henan Jianye	1:2	W
01.08.2018	Chin	FC Henan Jianye	Jiangsu Guoxin-Sainty FC	0:1	L
28.07.2018	Chin	Guizhou Zhicheng FC	FC Henan Jianye	1:2	W
22.07.2018	Chin	FC Henan Jianye	FC Shanghai Shenhua	2:2	D

GUANGZHOU EVERGRANDE NEWS

To have a real chance of challenging for the title, the visitors must take all three points on Wednesday afternoon against one of the lesser teams in the league.

Latest matches: Guangzhou Evergrande

11.08.2018	Chin	FC Changchun Yatai	Guangzhou Evergrande	3:2	L
05.08.2018	Chin	Guangzhou R&F FC	Guangzhou Evergrande	2:4	W
02.08.2018	Chin	Tianjin Teda	Guangzhou Evergrande	0:3	W
29.07.2018	Chin	Guangzhou Evergrande	Chongqing Lifan	5:0	W
18.07.2018	Chin	Guangzhou Evergrande	Guizhou Zhicheng FC	4:0	W

SUMMARY

Despite being away from home, Guangzhou Evergrande are huge favourites going into the match with a much stronger selection of players and better form. It’s hard to see past a win for the away side but as we see so often in the Chinese Super League, both teams should score in the clash. Henan Jianye will be lucky to get a draw but with resolute defending, they could do just that.