Opinion | Guangzhou Evergrande put one hand on the Chinese title as Super League battle enters championship rounds

Another game down and four left for the Chinese Super League season and while Guangzhou Evergrande now have one hand on the trophy, elsewhere there is still much to be decided.

While 34 points separate Guangzhou Evergrande in top spot and Changchun Yatai at the foot of the table, those numbers don’t tell the real story of the mini-leagues that are still being contested throughout the top flight.

After this weekend, Evergrande moved to seven points clear of second placed Jiangsu Suning, who in turn have a five-point lead over Shanghai Shenhua in third. And that’s where it starts to get interesting.

Shenhua and cross-town rivals Shanghai SIPG are battling it out for the final spot in next season’s Champions League but thanks to the top two also being in the CFA Cup Final – the winner of which was going to get a spot in next season’s Champions League – fourth will be good enough to play in next year’s continental competition unless either finalist finishes outside the top three. As it stands, the Blue Devils have the advantage of a two-point lead over the red half of the city.

From fifth onwards, it becomes a case of the best of the rest. Hebei China Fortune’s season has tailed off and with it their Champions League hopes have ended, unless they can get back into the top four. The newcomers sit in fifth place, seven points back from SIPG on 36 points – the same total as Guangzhou R&F and Beijing Guoan.