Aiming to continue their unbeaten start to the season and extend their lead at the top of the Saudi Pro League table, Al-Hilal will welcome Al-Taawoun to the King Fahd International Stadium on Friday.
After 12 league outings, the hosts sit four points clear at the summit of the division on the back of five straight league wins, while their visitors find themselves just seven points worse off in third spot at this stage.
Match preview
© Reuters
In their bid to regain the Saudi Pro League title, Al-Hilal have certainly enjoyed a strong start to the 2023-24 campaign, as they currently sit atop the table with 32 points from their opening 12 outings, having not yet suffered a defeat while already managing 10 victories.
The Blue Waves have impressed at both ends of the pitch in that fine opening run, with only Al-Nassr netting more than their 32 goals thus far, while no other side in the Saudi top flight have conceded as few as the eight they have shipped in 12 outings, and after playing out their second draw of the season in late September, they now head into Friday's contest on the back of five straight league wins.
In those outings, Jorge Jesus's side have netted 11 goals while only conceding once at the other end, starting with consecutive victories and clean sheets against Al Shabab, Al Akhdoud and Al Khaleej, before they met fellow high-flyers Al-Ahli and took three more crucial points from a 3-1 win, having initially gone 2-0 up through Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and Aleksandar Mitrovic before a Roger Ibanez own goal restored their cushion after Allan Saint-Maximin pulled one back for their visitors.
After building on that result with a 2-0 triumph away at Al Fateh last Friday, with Mitrovic again on the scoresheet alongside Salem Al-Dawsari, the Blue Waves now return to their Saudi Pro League campaign on the back of another continental victory, having won 2-0 away at Mumbai City on Monday thanks to second-half goals from Michael and Mitrovic to remain at the top of their AFC Champions League group with 10 points from four games.
Now facing a quick turnaround but with momentum firmly on their side, Al-Hilal will turn their focus back to domestic action on Friday as they seek to make it six league victories on the bounce and move seven points clear in the race for the Pro League title.
© Reuters
That will be no easy task, though, as Al-Taawoun arrive on the back of a strong start to the season of their own, with Friday's visitors currently sat third in the Saudi top flight with 25 points from their opening 12 outings.
Following their fifth-placed finish last time around, the Wolves have certainly stood strong in the early stages of the new campaign, having only suffered a single defeat while just Friday's hosts have conceded fewer than the nine goals they have allowed.
Their lone defeat came away at title-chasing Al-Ahli in mid-September, and Pericles Chamusca's side would bounce back in style with consecutive victories over Al Raed, Al Hazem and Al Tai to move second with 22 points from nine games, before playing out three consecutive draws heading into Friday's match.
They would firstly take a creditable point from a 1-1 draw with Al-Ittihad, as Karim Benzema's own goal levelled the scores after he put the visitors ahead four minutes earlier, before Joao Pedro earned them another share of the spoils with an equaliser away at Al Khaleej after the visitors initially took a 1-0 lead.
Now on the back of a goalless stalemate at home to Damac, which did extend an unbeaten streak to six league games but also saw them fall three points behind second-placed Al-Nassr and back level with Al-Ahli, Al-Taawoun will aim to defy the odds on Friday and make a return to winning ways to move back level with the second-placed side and narrow the gap to the leaders.
Team News
© Reuters
Al-Hilal will remain without star man Neymar, who picked up a long-term ligament injury during international duty with Brazil last month, after scoring once and providing three assists in his first five games for the club.
Jesus does still have an abundance of attacking quality at his disposal, though, and we should see an unchanged front four in their 4-2-3-1 shape with the dangerous trio of Michael, Malcom and Salem Al-Dawsari supporting front man Aleksandar Mitrovic, who has already notched up 16 goals in 16 appearances for the Blue Waves following his switch from Fulham, with nine of those alongside two assists coming in 10 Saudi Pro League games.
Behind that front line, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic will hope to return alongside fellow summer signing Ruben Neves in midfield, while Ali Al-Bulayhi and Hassan Tambakti will battle to join former Napoli and Chelsea man Kalidou Koulibaly at the heart of the back four in front of stopper Yassine Bounou.
Al-Taawoun may be unchanged from their recent stalemate with Damac, and in their 4-3-3 shape, Joao Pedro should continue to lead the line having netted four goals in seven Saudi Pro League appearances since his arrival.
Musa Barrow has also managed four goals in his first nine games for the Wolves and will keep his place on the left flank, while Saad Al-Nasser could again complete the front three although he faces competition from the likes of Sattam Al-Roqi and Abdulfattah Adam.
Elsewhere, Aschraf El Mahdioui and Flavio are mainstays in the engine room, while Andrei Girotto and Waleed Al-Ahmad should continue to partner up in defence after their latest clean sheet last time out.
Al-Hilal possible starting lineup:
Bounou; Abdulhamid, Koulibaly, Al-Bulayhi, Al-Shahrani; Neves, Milinkovic-Savic; Michael, Malcom, Al-Dawsari; Mitrovic
Al-Taawoun possible starting lineup:
Maylson; Abdulaziz, Girotto, Al-Ahmad, Faquihi; Flavio, El Mahdioui, Medran; Al-Nasser, Pedro, Barrow
We say: Al-Hilal 2-0 Al-Taawoun
Having only suffered one narrow defeat all season in the Saudi Pro League thus far, Al-Taawoun will certainly be no pushovers on Friday, but Al-Hilal do have the tools to break down the visitors' tight defence and should outclass the Wolves on home turf and add three more points to their tally.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
