Perhaps a welcome break from league football as Shanghai Shenhua & Guangzhou R&F face off to decide who makes it to next stage of the FA Cup. All the pre-match information is available here!
The hosts Shanghai saw competitive action as recent as four days ago, playing in the Super League. At least it's nice to return home after that away game at Dalian Professional.
These teams have little in common geographically as Guangzhou R&F have to travel 1400 kilometers to reach their opponents. The trip home will be especially long if the match ends in defeat.
Shanghai Shenhua form and stats
Last season, Shanghai's FA Cup journey ended in the finals.Overall Super League stats at home this season for Shanghai Shenhua are 1-2-2 (wins-draw-losses). With three draws from their last three games overall it has been a case of neither great nor terrible for Shanghai.
Shanghai drew their last game, 1-1 away at Dalian Professional. Before that, Shanghai drew at home versus Shandong Luneng.
Jinhao Bi was able to secure the draw 1-1 in the game against Dalian Professional after coming on as a substitute and scoring the final goal. In the starting lineup today?
The hosts are modest favourites in this match, with the bookmakers estimating the chance of a home win at about 50% +- five percent. It's interesting to look at how Shanghai have performed under similar circumstances, so here are some numbers: When modest favourites like this (we found five games) they have won three times, drawn one and lost one.
There's a new fixture coming up fairly quickly for Shanghai Shenhua, as the Super League home game vs Jiangsu Suning is only three days away.
Shanghai have proved capable of finding the net in their games here at Dalian Sports Center with 9 goals in 5 league matches. Shanghai are struggling defensively, conceding on average more than two goals per home game (12 from 5 played).
Guangzhou R&F form and stats
Guangzhou was sent out of FA Cup in the 4th round last season.2 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses. That’s the product of Guangzhou R&F playing as the away team in the Super League this season.
It's another away game for the visitors, as they travelled to Jiangsu Suning in their previous outing. The Super League match ended in a draw 3-3. Prior to that match, a home win 3-1 against Henan Jianye in the Super League.
Guangzhou R&F's last match (vs Jiangsu Suning) ended in drama as all points looked lost at the score 1-3. They did not give up, fought back and in the end a courageous finish rescued a draw after 90 minutes thanks to a 90th minute equalizer by Chang Feiya. A crazy, crazy match with lots of goals last time out for Guangzhou, as mentioned above. 6 goals in that one, will this match be as much fun? The draw against Jiangsu Suning came from a losing position. The Guangzhou manager G. van Bronckhorst brought on Chang Feiya as a substitute and the player scored to make the scores level.
Guangzhou are the outsiders in this one, but not by much. Their performance in similar games (being the away team and moderate outsiders) is zero wins, zero draws and four defeats. From a total of four matches.
The visitors are returning home after this fixture, hosting Dalian Professional in just three days.
Guangzhou has displayed an ability to score goals in away matches in the league this season, 9 goals from 6 games. Defensive performances away have varied in quality as Guangzhou have conceded 11 goals on the road. For more goal statistics, check out the Statistics tab above.
Head 2 Head
Shanghai-Guangzhou R&F H2H statistics last ten meetings regardless of arena: Shanghai Shenhua five wins, Guangzhou R&F three wins, two draws. seven of these ten matches had three or more goals (over 2,5).Top Goalscorers
  E. Zahavi 28 goals |  D. Saba 13 goals |   G. Moreno Cardona 11 goals |
Shanghai Shenhua missing players
Guangzhou R&F missing players
| Shanghai Shenhua | Guangzhou R&F | ||||||
| Total | Home | Statistics | Stat | Away | Total | ||
| 25 | 13 | Played | P | 13 | 25 | ||
| 8 | 5 | Won | W | 3 | 6 | ||
| 8 | 3 | Drew | D | 3 | 5 | ||
| 9 | 5 | Lost | L | 7 | 14 | ||
| 32 | 22 | Scored | S | 19 | 34 | ||
| 39 | 25 | Conceded | C | 27 | 59 | ||
| 92% | 100% | Over 0.5 | O 0.5 | 100% | 100% | ||
| 76% | 100% | Over 1.5 | O 1.5 | 85% | 92% | ||
| 64% | 92% | Over 2.5 | O 2.5 | 69% | 76% | ||
| 36% | 46% | Over 3.5 | O 3.5 | 38% | 52% | ||
| 16% | 23% | Over 4.5 | O 4.5 | 31% | 32% | ||
| 60% | 85% | BTTS | BTTS | 69% | 64% | ||
| 20% | 8% | Clean Sheets | C S | 8% | 8% | ||
| 28% | 8% | Failed to Score | F T | 23% | 28% | ||
| 5.1 | 4.8 | Corners for (avg) | C F | 3.6 | 3.5 | ||
| 4.8 | 4.9 | Corners against (avg) | C A | 5.7 | 5.3 | ||
| 2 | 2.1 | Yellow cards (avg) | Y C | 2.8 | 2.5 | ||
| 0 | 0 | Red cards | R C | 3 | 4 | ||
| 327 | 162 | Total Shots | T S | 139 | 276 | ||
| 99 | 54 | Shots on Target | S O | 51 | 94 | ||
| 30% | 37% | Goal Efficiency | G E | 35% | 32% | ||
| Total | Home | Away | |||||||||||||||||||
| # | Team | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | +/- | P |
| 1 | Guangzhou Evergrande | 11 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 27 | 9 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 19 | 6 | 18 | 28 |
| 2 | Jiangsu Suning | 11 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 20 | 14 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 11 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 6 | 6 | 19 |
| 3 | Shandong Luneng | 11 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 15 | 10 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 4 | 5 | 17 |
| 4 | Shenzhen | 11 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 16 | 16 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 9 | 0 | 14 |
| 5 | Shanghai Shenhua | 11 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 12 | 15 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3 | -3 | 14 |
| 6 | Dalian Professional | 11 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 17 | 16 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 7 | 1 | 11 |
| 7 | Guangzhou R&F | 11 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 13 | 26 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 15 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 11 | -13 | 11 |
| 8 | Henan Jianye | 11 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 13 | 27 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 15 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 12 | -14 | 6 |
- South China Morning Post - News (in English)