Kitchee Travels to the Philippines for Top of the

Targeting a top place finish in the AFC Cup 2016 Group F, Kitchee will head to the Philippines and take on Kaya FC for the latest Group F fixture in the tournament on Tuesday. At the time of writing, Kitchee sits comfortably in the second spot in Group F with two wins, one draw, one loss and seven points, trailing just behind Kaya FC. The team has long targeted a top place finish in the group stage and therefore the Blues should be in a very aggressive mode heading into the game. When the two sides last met earlier in the competition, Kitchee managed to come out on top through a narrow 1:0 home victory, courtesy to the winning goal from Rufino Sgovia. Now with Kitchee and Kaya FC virtually neck-and-neck at the top of the group, battle on the pitch should be fierce to say the least. Kitchee keeper Wang Zhenpeng indicates the Blues are back in the swing of things, after topping New Radiant in Maldives in the previous AFC Cup game. “We went to Maldives and defeated New Radiant in the last game, that really injected some much-needed confidence into the players,” Wang observed. “From what I saw in our earlier game against Kaya FC, they are generally a pretty balanced side. However, both their flanks might be a bit suspect and therefore we might target those particular areas when it comes to our attack. Having said that, we must keep our backend tidy when it comes to playing away. The key will be focusing on not allowing any goals.” Centre-back Fernando Recio believes winning against New Radiant previously has rekindled Kitchee’s hopes of finishing at the top of the group. The Spanish veteran also trusts Kitchee is well-positioned to keep the momentum going with another positive result against its Filipino counterpart. “Kaya FC players are very speedy in the attacking-front. They also boast several very skillful individuals, especially up-front including their foreign players,” Recio pointed out. “Both sides will be competing hard to finish as the top dog of the group but as long as we play a smart game on Tuesday, I am confident we can secure a positive result away from home.”