Matchday 14 in the Saudi Pro League will kick off with Al Ettifaq taking on Al Ittihad at the Abdullah Al-Dabal Stadium on Friday evening.
The hosts are currently in seventh place in the league standings with 22 points, while the visitors are two places and two points above them after 13 matches.
Match preview
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After a solid start to the 2023-24 season, which included five wins and a draw in their first six games, Al Ettifaq's momentum has hit a bit of a snag in recent weeks, which has seen them slip 10 points behind the top two in the league standings.
Steven Gerrard's side played out a stalemate against Al Fayha in their last match, which followed the same scoreline a week earlier to Al Raed, and have recorded just one victory in their last seven matches in all competitions.
The Knight of Ad-Dahna also saw their King's Cup campaign brought to an end in that time, knocked out by Al Nassr 1-0 after Ali Abdullah Hazzazi was shown a red card in the final minute of regulation time.
However, on the positive side, the hosts can draw confidence from their strong record at home, where they have only been beaten once in seven matches in all competitions this season while securing four wins and two draws.
Al Ettifaq have found wins difficult to come by in this fixture, though, failing to secure a victory in their last four encounters against this opposition dating back to January 2021.
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Meanwhile, defending champions Al Ittihad endured a mixed start to the league campaign, and after a 2-0 loss to Air Force Club of Iraq in the Asian Champions League, the side decided to axe Nuno Espirito Santo as the manager.
Last week, the Tigers announced Argentine Marcelo Gallardo, who guided River Plate to 14 titles, including two Copa Libertadores triumphs, as the new coach until 2025.
Gallardo was the most successful coach in River Plate's history, and the Argentine will need to bring all his experience to the table with his new side in need of a run of positive results to close the gap on the sides above them.
Hassan Khalifa stepped in as interim manager for the visitors' last match against Abha and helped the side bring an end to a five-match winless league run with a commanding 4-2 victory at home.
The new boss will now look to build on that result in this match, and while his side are the visitors here, they do have a very good away record this season with four wins, two draws, and just one loss in seven games.
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Jordan Henderson is expected to return to midfield after missing out on the last match and should slot in between Georginio Wijnaldum and Mohammed Mahzari as the deepest-lying midfielder.
Hamed Al Ghamdi could therefore be pushed further forward into a front three, which is likely to feature Mohammed Al Kuwaykibi and former Leicester City man Demarai Gray.
The visitors will be without Abdullah Al-Jadani (cruciate ligament tear) and Aseel Abed (hernia), while N'Golo Kante, Saleh Al Amri and Sultan Al-Farhan are all doubts due to knocks.
Karim Benzema made an immediate impact by scoring a hat-trick after returning from injury in the last match, and the Frenchman should almost certainly lead the line again in this one with Romarinho and Igor Coronado.
Al Ettifaq possible starting lineup:
Victor; Khateeb, Hendry, Tisserand, Abdulrahman; Henderson, Mahzari, Wijnaldum; Gray, Al Ghamdi, Al Kuwaykibi
Al Ittihad possible starting lineup:
Grohe; Al-Shanqeeti, Kadesh, Felipe, Hawsawi; Al-Olayan, Al-Ghamdi, Fabinho; Romarinho, Benzema, Coronado
We say: Al Ettifaq 1-2 Al Ittihad
The hosts are in desperate need of a victory to end a three-match winless streak but may find it difficult to manage that here against an opponent that has come away from this venue with all three points in their last two visits. We are expecting a high-quality encounter here, but we fancy the visitors will edge the result by the final whistle.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Devesh Jaganath
