Five straight China top flight champions Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao FC (3-1-0, 9 points) will look to snag their fourth consecutive win of the young 2016 Chinese Super League season as the team takes on tough squad Henan Jianye FC (2-1-1, 7 points) at the Tianhe Stadium on April 15th, Friday.

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Guangzhou Evergrande opened their current season on a whimper, losing to middling club Chongqing Lifan in March before stringing three straight victories over Changchun Yatai, Guangzhou R&F, and Beijing Guoan to get this year's title defense back on track.

In their most recent match, World Cup-winning head coach Luiz Felipe Scolari's boys crushed capital city squad Beijing Guoan, 3-0, on the road at the Worker's Stadium last Saturday, as reported by Xinhuanet.

Brazilian attacking midfielder Ricardo Goulart was the star of the show, scoring twice and assisting once in leading the Southern China Tigers on their amazing three-goal haul.

The opening goal was scored by vice-captain Gao Lin at the 26th minute off a brilliant assist by Goulart. Gao returned the favor by pulling off an impressive cross for Goulart first goal of the night one minute before the halftime break.

Gao assisted again in helping Goulart score his second goal of the game at the 81st to seal the win for the two-time AFC Champions League winners.

Meanwhile, Henan Jianye suffered their first loss of the season in the hands of undefeated team Jiangsu Suning FC, 0-1, at their own home field of Zhengzhou Hanghai Stadium also last Saturday, as per Soccerway.

The game had been scoreless after 87 minutes and looked headed to a goalless draw until local winger Ji Xiang provided the lone goal of the match for Jiangsu as the team outpointed manager Jia Xiuquan's side in the battle of unbeaten squads.

With the loss, Henan is now two points below Evergrande in the overall standings as Jiangsu took early league leadership in the season.

The predicted result is a 2-0 victory for Guangzhou Evergrande.

Guangzhou Evergrande starting lineup (4-2-3-1 formation): Zeng; Zhang, Feng, Kim, Rong; Paulinho, Huang; Zheng, Goulart, Martinez; Gao

Henan Jianye starting lineup (3-5-2 formation): Wang; McGowan, Gomes, Gu; Yang, Yin, Ivo, Feng, Ablet; Chen, Patiño  

TagsChina Football, China football 2016, Chinese Super League, Chinese Super League 2016, 2016 Chinese Super League, Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao FC, Henan Jianye FC