The Chinese Super League continues on Friday night as Yunnan Yukun host Shanghai Port. The home side's recent inconsistency is closely tied to their shaky defending, having conceded nine goals across the last three league rounds, and they look up against it here against Shanghai Port.
In the previous CSL round against Shandong Taishan, the two teams went toe to toe in an open contest. Yunnan Yukun's three goals all came from foreign players, with Chilibabangfei catching the eye by scoring twice in the second half, but the team still ended up on the losing side. Yunnan Yukun are one of the teams not to have had points deducted this season, and after 18 rounds they have posted 7 wins, 3 draws and 8 defeats for 24 points, a fairly middling return. They average 1.89 goals scored per game but also 1.83 conceded, underlining their wide-open style. So far this season, Yunnan Yukun have managed only one run of back-to-back wins, and over the last six rounds they have recorded just 1 win, 2 draws and 3 losses. Based on that recent form, this looks like another very difficult night against one of their bogey teams, Shanghai Port.
The CSL season has now entered its second half, but for Shanghai Port the title defence is already effectively out of reach, so the focus is now on pushing for a top-three finish. In truth, Shanghai Port still have a strong squad by CSL standards, with international goalkeeper Yan Junling at the back, as well as capable players such as Wang Shenchao, Li Shenglong and M. Vitor. Encouragingly for them, they have won all three meetings with Yunnan Yukun in recent years, scoring nine goals in total across those games. In the first meeting between the sides this season, foreign player Leonardo Lopes scored the opening goal and was one of the key men in the win. In team news, Zhang Yuan is suspended, while Browning, Kuai Jiwen and others are out injured.