Anderson Talisca scored twice as Guangzhou claimed a 4-0 victory in the reverse fixture in China two weeks ago to leave the Chinese side joint top of the standings and Melbourne propping up the table at the midway point.

The Australian team go into the game on the back of a 1-0 defeat to Adelaide United in the A-League on Friday that leaves them five points adrift of second-placed Sydney FC.

Douglas Vieira and Daiki Watari got on the scoresheet as Sanfrecce ran out 2-0 winners in the Matchday Three fixture between the pair to leave both sides – and China’s Guangzhou Evergrande – on six points at the Group F summit.

But since that defeat, Daegu have been in fine form domestically and they recorded a 3-0 victory over Pohang Steelers at the weekend that moved them to fourth place in the K League 1 standings.

First up are the sides in Groups F and H, who will play their Matchday Four fixtures on Tuesday, before the remaining teams in Groups E and G round off the week’s action on Wednesday.

Having crossed the halfway line of the group stage, Matchday Four sees the sides that faced-off two weeks ago trading places with the reverse encounters kicking-off the second half of Groups A to D in West Asia.

The Emirati side recovered from a 2-0 defeat to PFC Lokomotiv on the opening matchday to go on and win their two subsequent games. A 4-1 hammering of Al Ittihad was followed by a hard-fought 2-1 win against Al Rayyan in Doha.

Standing out for Al Wahda has been Brazilian winger Leonardo, who netted three goals in as many matches so far, including an added time winner in the reverse fixture two weeks ago.

Despite fighting back from two goals down to equalise in the second half, Lokomotiv fell to a 3-2 defeat in the reverse fixture with Fahad Al Muwallad netting the winning goal from the spot in added time.

The result left the Uzbek side bottom of the group with three points, while two-time champions Al Ittihad are level with group leaders Al Wahda on six points each, but are second on head-to-head record.

Last year’s AFC Champions League finalists and the 2012 runners-up face-off on Matchday Four of Group D on Monday. They find themselves occupying third and fourth place respectively.

Al Ahli come into the match with a new boss at the helm after Uruguayan manager Jorge Fossati was dismissed less than three months after being appointed.