Round eight of the 2023 Saudi Pro League season sees Al Hazem entertain the challenge of Al-Taawoun at the Al-Hazem Club Stadium on Friday evening.
Both teams came out on top in their respective last outings and will be looking to pick up where they left off with all three points here.
Match preview
Al Hazem secured safe passage into the next round of the King Cup courtesy of a 3-0 victory over Al Arabi when the sides faced off on Sunday.
Faiz Selemani's double and a Mohamed Al Thani strike put Filipe Gouveia's men in the driving seat after which Diego Miranda pulled one back on the stroke of half time.
Prior to that, Al Hazem fell to a 4-1 defeat against Al Shabab in league action, which saw them remain rooted to the bottom of the Saudi Pro League table.
Next up is the challenge of an opposing outfit who are unbeaten in the eight previous editions of this fixture, although five of them have ended with honours even.
Having recently picked up a first home win in five games, Friday's hosts now go in search of consecutive wins in front of their fans for the first time since March.
Al Taawoun saw off the threat of Al Qadisiya in Sunday's King Cup encounter, which ended in a routine 2-0 win at the King Abdullah Stadium.
Goals in either half from Musa Barrow and Abdulfattah Adam were enough to get the job done for Pericles Chamusca's men in a largely one-sided affair.
With 16 points amassed from seven league matches so far, the Wolves sit third in the standings, one point behind Al Hilal in second and one further adrift of leaders Al Ittihad.
Aiming to stay within touching distance of the summit, Friday's visitors now go in search of a much-needed win away from home where they have blown hot and cold so far.
Team News
Faiz Selemani has been directly involved in each of Al Hazem's last four goals across all competitions, and he will be aiming to come up trumps once again.
Paulo Ricardo is a doubt for the home side in this one after the defender came off with an injury scare midway through the cup victory over Al Arabi.
Spaniard Alvaro Medran is serving the final of his three-game suspension for Al-Taawoun and is ineligible to play any part in Friday's contest.
Musa Barrow has netted in two of his three matches for the away side since joining from Bologna, making the Gambia international one to keep an eye on.
Al Hazem possible starting lineup:
Dahmen; Al Aazmi, Viana, Ricardo, Al Bakr; Selemani, Traore, Abusabaan, Vina; Badamosi, Toze
Al-Taawoun possible starting lineup:
Mailson; Al Ahmad, Andrei, Al Saluli; Faqeehi, Flavio, Bahusayn, Al Abdal; Mateus, Barrow, Pedro
We say: Al Hazem 1-3 Al-Taawoun
Al-Taawoun's run of six wins in seven games leading up to Friday's clash will give them the belief that they can come away with maximum points. We are backing the away side to get the job done and plunge their hosts into further misery.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Adepoju Marvellous
