On Friday evening, we will see Al Ettifaq face relegation candidates Al Okhdood in their penultimate home match of the 2023-24 Saudi Pro League season.
The hosts moved two points clear of Al Fateh after pulling off a sensational victory in Jeddah last week, while the visitors ended gameweek 31 below the dotted line.
Match preview
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After failing to win three in a row between April 20 and the start of May, Al Ettifaq returned to winning ways in style last week when they smashed in five goals without response against PIF-owned giants Al Ittihad on the road.
Seko Fofana opened the scoring just five minutes into the contest with a goal-of-the-season contender, and Moussa Dembele extended the lead, netting his third goal in as many games from the penalty shot just after the half-hour mark.
However, the headlines belonged to Karl Toko Ekambi, who bagged a hat-trick, scoring twice in four minutes at the end of the first half to send his side into the break 4-0 up before getting his third just 10 minutes after the interval.
Steven Gerrard has admitted this season that the team's goal is to become the noisy neighbour to the top four, and while Al Ittihad were far from full-strength, the Ettifaq boss would have been thrilled with the ruthlessness from his side, which they have lacked at times this season.
The Commandos now need to bring the same level of performance back to Al Ettifaq Club Stadium, where they have only won twice in their last ten games and are winless in their last two.
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Meanwhile, after climbing out of the drop zone with five points earned in two games, Al Okhdood were forced back into the bottom three last week when they suffered a painful 3-2 loss at home against Al-Nassr.
Despite trailing by two goals, the Najran-based club displayed remarkable resilience in the second half against Al-Alami and fought their way back into contention when Hassan Al-Habib found the net at the hour mark, pulling his side back to 2-1.
After a brief spell of dominating possession, Saviour Godwin found an equaliser, but Nassr regained composure soon after and secured the victory in injury time thanks to Marcelo Brozovic, who bagged a brace, denying Noureddine Zekri's side a share of the spoils.
Still, the performance of the team was another indication of the progress made under the former Damac boss, who was brought in last month during a turbulent spell of form, characterised by seven winless outings, including six defeats and a draw.
The next goal for Zekri is to find a way end to his new side's dismal 11-match winless run on the road, which extends all the way back to a 2-1 win over Al Raed in September last year.
Team News
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The only negative that emerged from the dominant win over Al Ittihad last week for Gerrard and co was the injury sustained by Demarai Gray, who was later taken to hospital for a check-up.
The former Leicester City man also aggravated a niggling shoulder injury that he was carrying and has been flagged as a major doubt for this week. Aside from Gray, the hosts have a fully fit squad available.
Romanian defender Andrei Burca was forced out of action by a muscle tear a mere 23 minutes into Al Okhdood's recent win against Abha and is likely to struggle to return to action this season.
In Burca's absence, veteran Georgian centre-back Solomon Kvirkvelia will partner up with Saeed Al-Rubaie in the heart of the defence in front of Brazilian Paulo Vitor in goal.
Al Ettifaq possible starting lineup:
Victor; Yousef, Hendry, Madu, Otaibi; Fofana, Medran, Wijnaldum; Ekambi, Dembele, Camara
Al Okhdood possible starting lineup:
Vitor; Khamis, Kvirkvelia, Alyami, Al Mansour; Al-Habib, Pedroza, Al-Muwallad, Collado, Godwin; Tawamba
We say: Al Ettifaq 2-1 Al Okhdood
Al Ettifaq would have received a huge confidence boost from their result against Al Ittihad last week, and they will look to carry that momentum through the final knockings of the season. Al Okhdood have looked better under their new manager and we feel they put up a good fight here, but we are siding with the hosts to claim a close victory.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Devesh Jaganath
