Albert
·
52d
My Prediction
Shandong Taishan by 3Let's dive right into this Chinese Super League match between Shandong Taishan and Meizhou Hakka.
Shandong's man between the sticks, Dalei Wang hasn't exactly been a brick wall this season with a 6.55 rating and only 7 saves. Though, he looks quite shiny compared to his Hakka counterpart, Yuelei Cheng, whose 7.30 rating and 9 saves makes him the lesser of two evils.
For Meizhou Hakka, our resident showstopper Rodrigo Henrique with a 7.43 rating and a lone goal, appears to be their shining light among others like Zhechao Chen with his sterling 85.2% accurate pass rate and Liao Junjian, who's tried to make some noise with 2 shots on target.
Shandong Taishan brings an armada in comparison. Wenneng Xie and Cryzan are running the show with 2 goals apiece and impressive ratings of above 8.0. No doubt the opposition's keeper has already lost some sleep over Valeri Qazaishvili's potency too, having tucked one behind the net already and maintained an 84.2% pass accuracy.
Can't forget the ghosts of the past - the previous clashes between these teams indicate Taishan has quite a knack for making Hakka their punching bag, case in point: that 6-1 drubbing in August of 2023.
Looking at their seasonal performance, Shandong's record of 12-9-8 looks notably meatier next to Hakka's thin 6-9-14 showing. Unpacking their more recent results, Meizhou Hakka has been quite, shall we say, "off the boil," struggling for decisive wins whereas Shandong has seen a spell of reassuring performances.
So for those eyeing a well-placed wager, my advice is, don't ignore the numbers. They have a funny way of not lying.
Albert’s Prediction: Shandong Taishan by 3