It's early days in the Super League and both Shanghai Shenhua and Guangzhou R&F are still hoping for a flying start in order to set the tone for the season. Three points can make a big difference at this stage.
The visiting Guangzhou R&F played their last game only four days ago, a Super League match. That game was also an away game, at Dalian Professional. It will be interesting to see if they are fully ready and rested for this match, and/or if some changes in the lineup is necessary.
It's time to recharge all electronic entertainment devices for Guangzhou R&F, who are travelling more than 1400 kilometers to play this game.
Shanghai Shenhua form and stats
Only two Super League home games for Shanghai Shenhua so far, yet both highs and lows with 1 win, 1 draw and 0 defeat.
Happy days for Shanghai in their previous game, a Super League match away at Jiangsu Suning (placed 2nd) that ended with a 1-0 victory. In the match before that, Shanghai hosted Dalian Professional and drew the game 2-2.
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.
It's still early days, but we have some goal stats for the Shanghai Shenhua at home in the league. 5 on target and 4 scored by the opposition; from 2 matches.
Guangzhou R&F form and stats
Things could have gone better for Guangzhou R&F in their Super League away matches, but 4 points from 3 games is all right.
Guangzhou R&F play their second away game in a row, but can be confident going into this one after the 1-0 victory visiting Dalian Professional (placed 8th). Preceding that, the 0-2 home loss versus Jiangsu Suning.
We have checked recent matches where Guangzhou have had similar odds to win. Win-draw-lose statistics from those four games were zero victories, zero draws and four defeats.
The visitors have scored 2 goals from 3 away games in the league, an average of less than one per game. As opposed to that, Guangzhou have seen the ball go into their own net 4 times on the road.
Head 2 Head
Shanghai Shenhua-Guangzhou R&F H2H statistics last ten meetings regardless of arena: Shanghai Shenhua six wins, Guangzhou R&F two wins, two draws. six 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 | vs | Statistics | Stat | vs | Away | Total |
| 5 | 2 | 2 | Played | P | 1 | 3 | 5 |
| 3 | 1 | 1 | Won | W | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 1 | 1 | 1 | Drew | D | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | Lost | L | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 7 | 5 | 5 | Scored | S | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| 6 | 4 | 4 | Conceded | C | 1 | 4 | 11 |
| 100% | 100% | 100% | Over 0.5 | O 0.5 | 100% | 100% | 100% |
| 60% | 100% | 100% | Over 1.5 | O 1.5 | 100% | 67% | 80% |
| 40% | 100% | 100% | Over 2.5 | O 2.5 | 0% | 33% | 40% |
| 40% | 100% | 100% | Over 3.5 | O 3.5 | 0% | 0% | 20% |
| 20% | 50% | 50% | Over 4.5 | O 4.5 | 0% | 0% | 20% |
| 40% | 100% | 100% | BTTS | BTTS | 100% | 33% | 20% |
| 40% | 0% | 0% | Clean Sheets | C S | 0% | 33% | 20% |
| 20% | 0% | 0% | Failed to Score | F T | 0% | 33% | 60% |
| 3.4 | 2.5 | 2.5 | Corners for (avg) | C F | 6 | 3.3 | 3.8 |
| 3.2 | 5 | 5 | Corners against (avg) | C A | 5 | 4 | 4.2 |
| 2.6 | 2 | 2 | Yellow cards (avg) | Y C | 4 | 3 | 2.8 |
| 0 | 0 | 0 | Red cards | R C | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 54 | 17 | 17 | Total Shots | T S | 17 | 37 | 59 |
| 13 | 7 | 7 | Shots on Target | S O | 7 | 13 | 18 |
| 54% | 71% | 71% | Goal Efficiency | G E | 14% | 15% | 11% |
- All of Shanghai Shenhua's home-matches have had more than 3,5 goals.
- Guangzhou R&F has the fewest scored goals (2)
- Guangzhou R&F has the fewest scored goals in the second half (1)
- Guangzhou R&F has the most conceded goals (11)
- Guangzhou R&F has the most conceded goals in the first half (6)
- Guangzhou R&F has the the worst goal difference (-9)
- Guangzhou R&F have conceded at least twice as many goals as they have scored.
- Guangzhou R&F haven’t played a single 0-0 game.
- Shanghai Shenhua have not yet lost a game at home.
- Shanghai Shenhua have scored more than double the goals of Guangzhou R&F.
- Shanghai Shenhua have won significantly less corners at home than away.
- Shanghai Shenhua haven’t played a single 0-0 game.
| Shanghai Shenhua | Last season | Guangzhou R&F | |||||
| Total | Home | Statistics | Stat | Away | Total | ||
| 30 | 15 | Played | P | 15 | 30 | ||
| 8 | 5 | Won | W | 2 | 9 | ||
| 6 | 2 | Drew | D | 1 | 5 | ||
| 16 | 8 | Lost | L | 12 | 16 | ||
| 43 | 25 | Scored | S | 22 | 54 | ||
| 57 | 33 | Conceded | C | 40 | 72 | ||
| 97% | 93% | Over 0.5 | O 0.5 | 100% | 100% | ||
| 87% | 93% | Over 1.5 | O 1.5 | 93% | 97% | ||
| 80% | 93% | Over 2.5 | O 2.5 | 80% | 87% | ||
| 40% | 53% | Over 3.5 | O 3.5 | 60% | 67% | ||
| 17% | 27% | Over 4.5 | O 4.5 | 40% | 37% | ||
| 73% | 73% | BTTS | BTTS | 73% | 80% | ||
| 7% | 7% | Clean Sheets | C S | 0% | 3% | ||
| 23% | 27% | Failed to Score | F T | 27% | 17% | ||
| 5.1 | 5.7 | Corners for (avg) | C F | 3.5 | 3.8 | ||
| 4.6 | 3.6 | Corners against (avg) | C A | 6.9 | 5.8 | ||
| 1.7 | 1.9 | Yellow cards (avg) | Y C | 2.5 | 2.3 | ||
| 2 | 2 | Red cards | R C | 5 | 5 | ||
| 425 | 237 | Total Shots | T S | 197 | 420 | ||
| 140 | 74 | Shots on Target | S O | 64 | 146 | ||
| 31% | 34% | Goal Efficiency | G E | 34% | 37% | ||
| 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 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 13 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 2 | 10 | 12 |
| 2 | Jiangsu Suning | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 10 |
| 3 | Shandong Luneng | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 10 |
| 4 | Shanghai Shenhua | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 10 |
| 5 | Henan Jianye | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | -2 | 5 |
| 6 | Guangzhou R&F | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 11 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | -9 | 4 |
| 7 | Shenzhen | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 10 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 5 | -3 | 3 |
| 8 | Dalian Professional | 5 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | -3 | 2 |
- South China Morning Post - News (in English)