CSL BY THE NUMBERS：ROUND 24 ATTENDANCE & ACL/RELEGATION WATCH

Changchun gave away free shirts and saw its biggest crowd of the year, the players didn't disappoint, upsetting Guangzhou.

Another great weekend of Chinese Super League action, here are the scores and attendances from the weekend that was:

Chengdu 2 – 0 Shanghai, Attendance: 2,000
Henan 2 – 0 Nanchang, Attendance: 11,000
Liaoning 0 – 0 Qingdao, Attendance: 12,000
Shaanxi 0 – 0 Jiangsu, Attendance: 11,000
Shandong 0 – 0 Dalian, Attendance: 6,000
Tianjin 2 – 2 Hangzhou, Attendance: 27,000
Changchun 2 – 1 Guangzhou, Attendance: 29,000
Shenzhen 0 – 3 Beijing, Attendance: 24,000

So there you have it, some massive attendances for some clubs who haven’t seen numbers like that all year. When looking at the ACL positions, not much happened this week, though Liaoning is finally pushed out of the top three by charging Changchun, with Beijing picking up points as well, now the gap is even greater and with all the draws, sides are just barely hanging around the race. There are still six games left, but with all these sides fighting for the two available spots, I think a couple of teams will start fall out of the race this weekend. Here’s the picture going into Round 25:

ACL positioning

↔ Guangzhou (55 points)
↔ Beijing (43 points)
↑ Changchun (38 points)
↓ Liaoning (37 points)
↔ Tianjin (35 points)
↔ Jiangsu (34 points)
↔ Shandong (34 points)
↔ Hangzhou (34 points)
↔ Shaanxi (33 points)
↔ Qingdao (32 points)

At the bottom of the table, for the first time since I started the watch three rounds ago, Henan are now safe, 8 points away from a relegation position. However, with Shanghai’s loss to Chengdu, they are teetering close at only 7 points away, and the Blades have moved themselves up to within three points of safety. It looks like it will be a three way battle to stay alive with just promoted Chengdu hoping to stay in the top flight while Shenzhen and Nanchang hope that like last year they can keep their heads above water.

Relegation zone