At 7:30 p.m. Beijing time on September 14th, a much-anticipated battle will be staged in the 18th round of the Chinese Super League (CSL), with Shandong Taishan facing Wuhan Sanzhen, in a showdown that will push the two top teams in the CSL to the top of their game.
Shandong Taishan team (soccer team)
Looking back at Shandong Taishan, their last appearance in the league was on August 31st, when they lost 1-2 against Shanghai Shenhua, ending their 9-game winning streak and widening the gap with Wuhan Sanzhen. Currently, Shandong Taishan are four points behind Wuhan Sanzhen with one more round to go, and if they lose again, they will be seven points behind with one more round to go, which almost means they will say goodbye to the title race.
The Shenhua game brought great pressure to the team, facing the powerful Wuhan Sanzhen, Shandong Taishan team want to get a victory is not easy. At the same time, the team is also facing injury problems, Fellaini has just started to join the training, the specific situation will have to wait for tomorrow's team doctor's assessment. Fortunately, the previously injured Song Long and Cressan are recovering well, especially Cressan, who has scored 8 goals this season and is expected to make his debut. As the centerpiece of Taishan's forward line, his performance will have a direct impact on the team's ability to win at home.
[Wuhan Three Towns Team]
Currently, Wuhan Three Town is at the top of the league table, and they are the best in the season with the highest number of goals scored and the lowest number of goals conceded in the league. However, the team has not played an official match for a month, and even during their preparations in Wuhan, they were only able to play internal rivalry matches, and could not even arrange warm-up matches. It is reported that Malcolm, the top scorer with 16 goals this season, and Edmilson did not travel with the team to Jinan, while Stanciu, the center of the midfield, traveled with the team but has a small injury, and his ability to play needs to be confirmed by the team doctor.
The absence of Malcolm, who is the Chinese Super League's leading goal scorer this season, and Stanchou, who is the leading assist man, will undoubtedly deal a huge blow to Wuhan Sanzhen's offense. However, Sanzhen's overall strength is strong enough to allow for mistakes, and their mentality is more stable than Shandong Taishan's, which will undoubtedly help them remain undefeated. It is worth mentioning that Sanzhen has been undefeated for 12 consecutive matches, and if they beat Taishan in this round, they will equal the winning streak record held by Shandong Taishan and Guangzhou in the Chinese Super League.
Projected starting lineups for both sides
Shandong Taishan team (soccer team)
: 14 - Wang Dalei, 5 - Zheng Zheng, 11 - Liu Yang, 27 - Shi Ke, 8 - Liao Lisheng, 10 - Moises, 28 - Sun Junhao, 33 - Jin Jingdao, 37 - Ji Xiang, 29 - Chen Pu, 9 - Cressan
Wuhan Three Towns Team
: 1 - Wu Fei, 3 - Wallace, 11 - Davidson, 12 - Zhang Xiaobin, 21 - He Chao, 18 - Liu Yiming, 20 - Gao Zhunyi, 23 - Renhang, 25 - Deng Hanwen, 30 - Xie Pengfei, 43 - Stanciu
