Round four of the 2023 Saudi Pro League season sees Al-Hilal play host to Al Ettifaq to the Prince Faisal bin Fahd Stadium on Monday evening.
Both teams boast a near-perfect record heading into this one, and their meeting in Riyadh has all the makings of a keenly-contested affair.
Match preview
Al-Hilal had far too much quality for Al Raed as they ran out 4-0 winners when the teams went head-to-head at the King Abdullah Stadium on Thursday.
Jorge Jesus's men opened the scoring three minutes shy of half time through Aleksandar Mitrovic before a Salem Al Dawsari second-half double and Abdullah Al Hamdan's strike sealed the deal.
As a result, the Blue Waves have moved up to third in the Saudi Pro League table, two points adrift of Al Ittihad and Al Ahli SC at the top of the pile.
Next up is the challenge of an opposing outfit who are winless in the last 13 editions of this fixture across all competitions, losing 12 of them.
Ahead of a crunch clash against Al Ittihad four days later, Monday's hosts will be keen to set the tone with a dominant display in this one.
Al Ettifaq had to make do with a point in their encounter against Al Khaleej at the Prince Mohamed bin Fahd Stadium on Thursday, which ended in a 1-1 stalemate.
Steven Gerrard's men trailed to Fabio Martins's opener just shy of the half-hour mark before restoring parity five minutes into the second period through Vitinho.
With seven points from their three outings so far, the Knights of Ad-Dahna sit fourth in the standings, level on points with their next opponents.
Off the back of three straight wins on the road heading into Monday's clash, the visitors will back themselves to get the job done away from home once again.
Team News
Al-Hilal's Sergej Milinkovic-Savic is suspended for this one, having received his marching orders in the victory over Al Raed last time out.
Abdullah Al Hamdan came off the bench in the aforementioned game and scored for the second match running, making him one to keep an eye on.
Neymar remains unavailable for his new employers through injury, but the Brazilian is drawing increasingly closer to making a return to action.
Vitinho has found the back of the net in three of his last four matches for Al Ettifaq, and he will be looking to come up trumps for his side here.
Twenty-one-year-old Mohammed Mahzari will be pushing for a place in the starting XI, as he is yet to be handed his full debut since signing from Al-Shoalah.
Al-Hilal possible starting lineup:
Bono; Al Shahrani, Al Bulayhi, Jahfali, Abdulhamid; Neves, Kanno; Al Dawsari, Malcolm, Michael; Mitrovic
Al Ettifaq possible starting lineup:
Victor; Al Hawsawi, Tisserand, Hendry, Khateeb; Henderson, Ozdemir, Hazzazi; Quaison, Dembele, Vitinho
We say: Al-Hilal 3-1 Al Ettifaq
Goals are not expected to be a problem here given the firepower on display from both teams. That said, we fully expect the home side to come away with all three points come the sound of the final whistle.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Adepoju Marvellous
