Preview: Guangzhou City vs. Henan Songshan Longmen - prediction, team news, lineups

The visitors, meanwhile, are yet to taste defeat this term, and they will have the chance to clinch a third consecutive victory.

Match preview

After qualifying for the Championship group in the shortened 2021 campaign, Guangzhou City may have entered the current season in a positive mood.

However, all the hope that a new season brings quickly dissipated on the opening day as they were thumped 4-1 by Changchun Yatai.

Although the last two scorelines have been closer, Guangzhou City's results have failed to improve, with their previous two matches resulting in defeats to Dalian Pro and Shandong Taishan.

They managed to keep Shandong Taishan at bay for over 70 minutes at the weekend, but a Marouane Fellaini goal denied them the chance to collect their first point of the season.

Having scored only once and conceded seven goals across their opening three matches, Wednesday's hosts need to improve at both ends of the pitch if they are to move up the Chinese Super League table.

While their hosts are languishing in the relegation zone, Henan find themselves in fourth spot after three league games.

The campaign began with a dramatic 2-2 draw, with Fernando Karanga scoring a stoppage-time equaliser to get Henan's season up and running.

The momentum gained from that late equaliser has only gathered speed in their last two games thanks to victories over Shandong Taishan and Zhejiang Professional.

Shandong Taishan were comfortably dispatched by a 4-1 scoreline before goals from Karanga, Yang Shuai and Ma Xingyu helped Henan clinch a 3-1 victory over Zhejiang Professional to maintain their unbeaten start to the season.

Having scored nine goals across their opening three matches, Wednesday's visitors will believe that they have the necessary firepower to beat Guangzhou City on Wednesday.

Guangzhou City Chinese Super League form:

Henan Songshan Longmen Chinese Super League form:

Team News

Guangzhou City could make a couple of changes to the side that lost 1-0 to Shandong Taishan as they bid to collect their first points of the season.

Tan Chun-Lok is expected to return to the starting lineup, while Wang Peng could be presented with his first starting opportunity of the season.

Although goals have been hard to come by, Chen Zhizhao and Li Tixiang are expected to continue their forward partnership on Wednesday.

As for the visitors, Luo Xin is expected to retain his place in the backline after being given his first start of the season on Saturday.

Zhong Yihao came off the bench at half time to grab one assist in the 3-1 win over Zhejiang Professional, and his second-half performance could result in the 26-year-old being rewarded with a spot in the starting lineup.

Meanwhile, Henan's main goal threat will come from Karanga who has scored four goals in the opening three matches, leaving him top of the scoring charts in the Chinese Super League.

Guangzhou City possible starting lineup:

Cheng; Huang, Jiang, Yi, J.Zhang, T. Li; Tan, Peng, G. Zhang; Z. Chen, B. Jin

Henan Songshan Longmen possible starting lineup:

G. Wang; X. Luo, Sunjic, Yang, Niu; S. Wang, Y. Zhao; Karanga, Mierzejewski, Y. Zhong; Dourado

We say: Guangzhou City 1-3 Henan Songshan Longmen

While Guangzhou City are yet to pick up a point, Henan are currently riding a crest of a wave after collecting seven points from their opening three matches, and we think that the visitors will utilise the momentum gained from those results to claim three points on Wednesday.

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