National cups are something special for many teams and supporters. Today's match will decide whether it's Shijiazhuang Ever Bright or Shenzhen that keep their silverware dream alive.
This promises to be an intriguing game with lots of fun and bustle as both contenders are well renewed since they last played a game. Let's get started!
It's quite the trip for Shenzhen when visiting Shijiazhuang as the cities are 1900 kilometers apart.
Shijiazhuang Ever Bright form and stats
This is not the first game this season in the FA Cup for Shijiazhuang, as the manager A. Ghotbi led his troops to eliminate Zibo Sunday, and reach the 2nd Round. Last season, Shijiazhuang Ever Bright's FA Cup journey ended in the 1st round.When playing at home in the Super League, Shijiazhuang Ever Bright have managed 2 wins, 2 draws and suffered 3 defeats from 7 games.
Shijiazhuang's previous game was a FA Cup match also played at home, ending 5-1 versus Zibo Sunday. The home side are looking to build on that result. As mentioned above, Shijiazhuang "killed" Zibo Sunday in their previous game. They need to reset completely for this one and beware of complacency. What a game it was for O. Maritu when beating Zibo Sunday, applying the finishing touch to four goals!
Prior to that, an away loss at Shandong Luneng in the Super League.Shijiazhuang Ever Bright have scored 5 league goals here from 7 matches, not a lot. Shijiazhuang's goalkeeper has had to pick the ball out of their own net 8 times. For more goal stats, check the Statistics tab above.
Shenzhen form and stats
The traveling awayteam has defeated Shaanxi Warriors in order to reach 2nd round of FA Cup. Last season their FA Cup adventure ended in the 1st round.4-0-3 is the win-draw-loss statistic for Shenzhen in their Super League matches away. Shenzhen seem to be suffering from homesickness with two consecutive losses away. Third time lucky?
Shenzhen are travelling after their nice 7-0 home win in the FA Cup against Shaanxi Warriors. As mentioned above, Shenzhen was the only team on the pitch versus Shaanxi Warriors in their previous game, winning 7-0. This could be a tougher task.
A home win before that, celebrating 2-1 vs Chongqing Dangdai Lifan.Shenzhen have scored more than twice on average per away game (in the league), an impressive attacking display. They have 16 goals from 7 away matches. Shenzhen struggle to build an impenetrable defensive wall in away matches with a total of 12 goals conceded from these games.
Head 2 Head
Shijiazhuang-Shenzhen H2H statistics last eight meetings regardless of arena: Shijiazhuang Ever Bright three wins, Shenzhen three wins, two draws. four of these eight matches had three or more goals (over 2,5).Top Goalscorers
  A. de Souza Pereira Junior 7 goals | T. Dai 3 goals |  L. Gao 3 goals |
Shijiazhuang Ever Bright missing players
Shenzhen missing players
| Shijiazhuang Ever Bright | Shenzhen | ||||||
| Total | Home | Statistics | Stat | Away | Total | ||
| 25 | 13 | Played | P | 12 | 25 | ||
| 4 | 3 | Won | W | 6 | 12 | ||
| 6 | 3 | Drew | D | 1 | 5 | ||
| 15 | 7 | Lost | L | 5 | 8 | ||
| 24 | 14 | Scored | S | 23 | 43 | ||
| 43 | 20 | Conceded | C | 19 | 30 | ||
| 88% | 92% | Over 0.5 | O 0.5 | 100% | 92% | ||
| 80% | 85% | Over 1.5 | O 1.5 | 100% | 80% | ||
| 52% | 38% | Over 2.5 | O 2.5 | 67% | 60% | ||
| 24% | 23% | Over 3.5 | O 3.5 | 42% | 28% | ||
| 12% | 15% | Over 4.5 | O 4.5 | 25% | 16% | ||
| 52% | 46% | BTTS | BTTS | 58% | 56% | ||
| 16% | 15% | Clean Sheets | C S | 17% | 24% | ||
| 44% | 46% | Failed to Score | F T | 25% | 28% | ||
| 3.2 | 3.5 | Corners for (avg) | C F | 5 | 6.2 | ||
| 4.7 | 4.7 | Corners against (avg) | C A | 4.2 | 3.3 | ||
| 2.1 | 2.2 | Yellow cards (avg) | Y C | 1.7 | 2 | ||
| 0 | 0 | Red cards | R C | 0 | 0 | ||
| 8.1 | 7.8 | Shots (avg) | S ( | 11.8 | 13.3 | ||
| 2.7 | 3.1 | Shots on Target (avg) | S O | 4.8 | 4.9 | ||
| 35% | 35% | Goal Efficiency | G E | 40% | 35% | ||
| Total | Home | Away | |||||||||||||||||||
| # | Team | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | +/- | P |
| 1 | Shandong Luneng | 14 | 10 | 3 | 1 | 30 | 10 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 14 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 16 | 6 | 20 | 33 |
| 2 | Guangzhou Evergrande | 14 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 39 | 14 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 21 | 6 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 18 | 8 | 25 | 30 |
| 3 | Shenzhen | 14 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 24 | 18 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 16 | 12 | 6 | 24 |
| 4 | Guangzhou R&F | 14 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 21 | 21 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 14 | 14 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 21 |
| 5 | Henan Jianye | 14 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 13 | 14 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 9 | 6 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 8 | -1 | 18 |
| 6 | Chongqing Dangdai Lifan | 14 | 3 | 2 | 9 | 16 | 28 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 11 | 14 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 14 | -12 | 11 |
| 7 | Shijiazhuang Ever Bright | 14 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 13 | 23 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 8 | 15 | -10 | 10 |
| 8 | Qingdao Hainiu | 14 | 2 | 1 | 11 | 6 | 34 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 18 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 16 | -28 | 7 |
- South China Morning Post - News (in English)