Zhejiang Professional will be looking to make it three wins from three for the first time this year when they visit the Wuyuan River Stadium to face Changchun Yatai on Wednesday.

The hosts, on the other hand, are unbeaten in each of their last five games against the Green Giants since 2016 and will look to keep the juggernaut rolling.

Match preview

Changchun Yatai returned to winning ways in style as they comfortably brushed aside Guangzhou City 3-1 when the sides squared off last Friday.

Brazilian forward Erik put on a clinic at the Mission Hills Football Base Stadium as he scored one and created another to inspire the visitors to all three points.

Prior to that, Chen Yang's side were on a run of four consecutive matches without a win, picking up their points from a possible 12 in that time.

With nine points from six games, Changchun Yatai are currently seventh in the Super League standings, one point and three places above Wednesday's visitors.

Elsewhere, Zhejiang Professional picked up successive victories for the first time this season last time out when they saw off Shandong Taishan 2-0 on home turf.

Following a drab first half, Franko Andrijasevic and Nyasha Mushekwi scored 21 minutes into the second period to hand the Green Giants their first home win of the season.

Prior to that, Zhejiang failed to taste victory in their opening four games of the season — picking up two draws and losing two — before edging out Guangzhou City 4-2 away from home on June 20.

While Jordi Vinyals's men will look to pick up a third win on the bounce for the first time since January, next up is an opposing side who they have failed to defeat in any of the last five meetings between the teams since 2016.

Team News

Off the back of a dominant display against Guangzhou City, Yang could name a similar starting side on Wednesday, meaning we could see a back three of Pengfei Han, Jores Okore and Jie Sun.

At the opposite end of the pitch, Erik has been a standout performer for Changchun Yatai, scoring two goals and creating another two in six outings, and the 27-year-old should team up with Junior Negrao and Long Tan in the final third.

Meanwhile, Zhejiang Professional remain without first-choice goalkeeper Chao Gu, who is out with a fractured finger, meaning Bo Zhao will start between the sticks once again.

He is joined on the club's injury table by former Portimonense defender Lucas Possignolo, who is set to sit out his fifth straight game through a muscle problem.

Veteran forward Matheus came off injured in the reverse fixture against Changchun Yatai on June 7 and remains out of contention for the visitors.

Changchun Yatai possible starting lineup:
Wu; Sun, Okore, Han; Liao, Tudi, Zhang, Rao; Tan, Negao, Erik

Zhejiang Professional possible starting lineup:
Zhao; Yue, Leung, Sun, Gao; Zhang; Andrijasevic, Gu, Ewolo, Chenge; Mushekwi

We say: Changchun Yatai 1-2 Zhejiang Professional

After stumbling into the new season, Zhejiang have hit their stride in recent weeks and head into Wednesday's game firing on all cylinders. While we expect Changchun Yatai to put up a fight, we are backing the visitors to come out on top in what we expect to be a cagey contest.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

Written by
Joshua Ojele

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