Al-Hilal will look to continue their impressive start to the 2024-25 Saudi Pro League season when they take on Damac at the Prince Faisal bin Fahd Stadium on Wednesday evening.
The hosts kicked off their league title defence with a commanding victory against Al Okhdood over the weekend, while the visitors suffered a 1-0 opening-day defeat at home to Al Khaleej.
Match preview
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Al-Hilal had an incredible 2023-24 Pro League season, as they secured the domestic double, which included an unbeaten league campaign that ended with 31 wins and just three draws in 34 top-flight matches.
While beating rivals Al-Nassr to the title by 14 points was an achievement in itself, that statistic becomes all the more impressive when considering they did so without marquee signing Neymar, who missed the majority of the season through injury.
The Blue Waves seem to have picked up where they left off last season, having already secured the Saudi Super Cup title this term, beating the Knights of Najd 4-1 in the final a couple of weeks ago.
Jorge Jesus's side followed up that result with a comfortable 3-0 away win in their first match of the league season last weekend, with Aleksandar Mitrovic bagging a brace and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic opening his account all inside the first half.
Al-Hilal will now play their first home match of the new term in midweek and will be out to extend their incredible record at the Prince Faisal bin Fahd Stadium, which shows 16 consecutive league wins and 23 matches unbeaten leading up to this one.
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Meanwhile, Damac experienced a drop-off last season, having slipped to 10th place after finishing eighth in the previous campaign and fifth in the 2022-23 league season.
The Knights of the South ended the previous campaign very poorly, failing to win any of their final six league matches, including three draws and three losses, while they only managed to secure a single victory in their final 12 games (W1 D5 L6).
Cosmin Contra's side began the new league season with an underwhelming performance, suffering a 1-0 defeat to Al Khaleej, who finished four points behind them in the final standings last term.
Unfortunately for the visitors, their chances of bringing an end to their winless run look unlikely here, as they have not won an away game in the top flight since mid-April and have not beaten their upcoming opponents in their last six attempts, dating back to 2021.
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As mentioned, Al-Hilal got through last season without Brazilian star Neymar, though the former Barcelona and PSG attacker is closing in on a return to full fitness and is expected to return to action in the next month.
Saud Abdulhamid is set to join Roma imminently and was left out of the Blue Waves league opener last week, which should see the right-back position filled by either Mohammed Alburayk or Yasser Alshahrani for the foreseeable future.
Damac have just one known injury absentee for the trip to the capital in the form of midfielder Adam Maher, who is likely to miss a large chunk of the season due to a cruciate ligament tear.
Contra handed former Al-Wehda attacker Hazzaa Al-Ghamdi his debut for the club last week and he is expected to continue to lead the line alongside Cameroon international Kevin N'Koudou.
Al-Hilal possible starting lineup:
Bounou; Alburayk, Koulibaly, Al Bulaihi, Lodi; Milinkovic-Savic, Neves; Al-Qahtani, Alhamddan, Al-Dawsari; Mitrovic
Damac possible starting lineup:
Abdullah; Faqihi, Chafai, Bedrane, Al-Anazi; Munshi, Hamed, Al-Ghamdi, Stanciu, N'Koudou; Solan
We say: Al-Hilal 3-1 Damac
With a record of 23 matches unbeaten and 16 consecutive league wins here at Prince Faisal bin Fahd Stadium ahead of this match, it is difficult to make much of a case for the visitors to beat Al-Hilal this weekend.
The league champions have notched up eight goals in their first three matches in all competitions this season and we feel they will add to that tally with a few more in this one.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Devesh Jaganath
