CSL Round 28: ACL/Relegation Watch

Liaoning fans hoping their side can hold onto their ACL position.

The Asian Champions League picture has worked its way out, right now you have five teams (Hangzhou has an outside chance, but it will be hard) battling for one position. Interestingly, among the remaining matches there is only one real “six pointer” and that is this weekend when Liaoning hosts Changchun, other than that, the sides at the bottom of the table (and Tianjin and Dalian) will play a role in deciding who moves on. It’s going to be fun as these top sides fight with the bottom sides, both with something to play for. This past week saw some “six pointers”, though, as Shandong defeated Liaoning and Qingdao beat Changchun, moving themselves into contention for that final spot. Shandong could of course still play themselves in if they can beat Tianjin in the CFA Cup Final.
ACL positioning

Guangzhou (64 points)
Beijing (53 points)
↔ Liaoning (44 points) Remaining matches: Changchun,@Tianjin
↔ Changchun (42 points) Remaining matches: @Liaoning, Shenzhen
↑ Jiangsu (41 points) Remaining matches: @Dalian, Nanchang
↑ Shandong (41 points) Remaining matches: @Shenzhen, Henan
↑ Qingdao (41 points) Remaining matches: @Tianjin, Shaanxi
↔ Hangzhou (38 points) Remaining matches: @Guangzhou, Dalian

At the other end of the table, the picture looks like this after Chengdu and Nanchang both won over the weekend. It now looks pretty clear that Nanchang is safe, especially when looking at the remaining schedules, but anything can happen in the Chinese Super League, so it’s going to be a great finish.
Relegation zone