Guangzhou Evergrande vs Tianjin Teda Predictions

Guangzhou Evergrande continue their push for the Chinese Super League title on Friday, as they host Tianjin Teda. The hosts finished up second in the league last term, but they are hoping to step up and take the title this term. They made the right start last time out, but are they going to add to their bright start against a side who are searching for their first points of the season?

The hosts have made big moves ahead of the new season, after wrapping up permanent deals for Brazilian pair Paulinho and Talisca. The pair have a wealth of experience, and they will be expecting to continue the excellent impact they had late last season. Both players joined in the summer on loan, and the second-half of the campaign with the duo on board saw Guangzhou win 15 of their 19 league games. That fine form has made them favourites for success this term, and it should worry Tianjin.

The visitors were beaten by Jiangsu last weekend, and they are in terrible away form going into this difficult trip. They were only narrowly out of the drop zone in the CSL last season, and this time around they’ll be hoping to avoid a similar fate this time around. However, the bookies clearly expect them to start with back to back defeats because the hosts are heavy favourites here.

That’s not a huge surprise, given that Talisca and Paulinho each damaged Tianjin last season. They scored across the two meetings in last season’s CSL, which Guangzhou won 8-1 on aggregate. The title favourites won this fixture 5-1 back in November, while they have won 3-0 in four of their last five clashes. That only continued the fine form from the hosts, as Guangzhou have scored at least twice in the last 11 meetings between these two sides.

The hosts have scored at least three times in eight of their last 10 at home in the CSL, while they’ve scored 18 times in their last four home league games. With the visitors going into this tough trip with five defeats in six away CSL matches, we think the value in this match is to back the hosts to cruise to a success. They clearly have the attacking presence, while last season they boasted one of the best defences in the league. Having won their last six meetings with Tianjin by an aggregate of 19-1, we’re backing the hosts to win this clash with a -2 handicap. We are backing them to win by at least three goals, continuing their fantastic start to the campaign.