Lion City Sailors vs Bangkok United

Bishan Stadium forms the backdrop for a handsomely-looking AFC Champions League Group F curtain-raiser between Lion City Sailors and Bangkok United.

After failing to make it out of the Champions League group stages last year despite registering partial success in six matches (W2, D1, L3), Lion City will be gunning for a flying start to their Group H campaign amid an impressive run of form. Back-to-back 3-1 defeats to Albirex Niigata and DPMM in mid-July look like a remote history, with the ‘Sailors’ stringing together six straight league victories in the build-up to this match-up, including a comfortable 3-1 home win over Geylang International last time out. Lion City’s prolificacy has been off the charts in the Singapore Premier League lately, as they’ve notably netted 3+ goals across their five most recent outings. However, since none of those matches yielded a clean sheet, the hosts cannot take anything for granted.

Visiting Bangkok United couldn’t have dreamt of a better way to kick things off in the new campaign than beating fierce rivals Buriram United 2-0 in the Champions Cup final. After a dominant triumph in their 2023/24 curtain-raising fixture, Totchtawan Sripan’s men have gone from strength to strength at the beginning of the new league campaign, racking up three wins and a draw in their opening four games. Despite failing to score in the first half against Sukhothai at home last time out, the ‘Bangkok Angels’ netted three unanswered goals after the break to claim a clear-cut 3-0 win and set themselves up nicely for this trip. Adding to the visitors’ confidence, they’ve not conceded a goal in their last three matches ahead of this showdown.