After seven wins on the trot, Marcello Lippi's men had opened up a three point lead at the top of the table but that evaporated as they fell to a 1-0 defeat to their city rivals Guangzhou R&F.
With an hour played, neither side had been able to break the deadlock at the Tianhe Stadium with Elkeson even missing a first-half penalty for the league leaders, however Abderrazak Hamdallah changed that as he netted his ninth goal of the league campaign to move Sven-Goran Eriksson's side into third.
Despite a close first half, the visitors' task was made harder when forward James Chamanga received a second yellow card just before half time.
Shanghai SIPG produced an emphatic display to beat Guizhou Renhe 5-2 with Tobias Hysen netting a hat-trick and Daniel McBreen getting the other two for Zhikang Xi's side.
Shandong Luneng fell to their third successive league defeat with a 1-0 away defeat to Shanghai Shenua, while Jiangsu Sainty ended a run of five-games without a win thanks to Ang Li's fifth minute strike against Changchun Yatai despite Dejan Damjanovic's dismissal.
Meanwhile in mid-table, Shanghai Shenxin came from two goals behind against Hangzhou to earn a 2-2 draw thanks to Jailton Paraiba's equaliser.
