Shanghai Shenhua vs Sichuan Jiuniu Prediction

Alright boys, let's fire up the braai and look at this clash between Shanghai Shenhua and Sichuan Jiuniu! The home side is sitting pretty in 3rd place with 58 points, while these visitors from Sichuan are struggling down in 12th with just 26 points. That's a bigger gap than between my boerewors and the vegetables I refuse to eat!

Shanghai has been decent lately with 4 wins, 4 draws, and 2 losses in their last 10. They're scoring goals for fun at home - 2.5 per game on their own patch! They put 6 past Meizhou Kejia recently and looked solid beating FC Seoul 2-0 in the AFC Champions League. But they've also been conceding, drawing 2-2 with Dalian Zhixing and 1-1 with second-placed Chengdu Better City.

Now Sichuan... ja well, no fine. They've only won 3 of their last 10 with 7 losses. But here's the interesting bit - they can score! They beat Beijing Guoan 2-1 and Wuhan Three Towns 2-1 recently. Both teams have scored in 70% of their recent matches, which is lekker for us punters.

The head-to-head is surprisingly tight - Shanghai has never actually beaten Sichuan at home! Last time they met, Sichuan won 3-1. But that was then, this is now. Shanghai is scoring 2.15 expected goals at home while Sichuan should net about 1.07.

Looking at the stats, both teams should find the net here. Shanghai's attack is firing at home, and Sichuan has shown they can score against anyone when they turn up. The BTTS market at 1.91 looks like good value to me!