Gameweek 11 in the Saudi Pro League will see Al Ittihad taking on Al Hazem at the Prince Abdullah al-Faisal Stadium on Thursday evening.
The hosts come into this match in fifth place in the league standings with 20 points after 10 matches, while the visitors are down in 17th and currently on just six points.
Match preview
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After making a very positive start to their title defence, which included four consecutive wins in their first four matches this season, Al Ittihad have hit a bit of a difficult patch and will see this as a perfect opportunity to bounce back to winning ways.
The Tigers played out a 1-1 draw last week against Al Taawon, which extended their recent record to three matches without a win on either side of the international break, including two draws and a loss.
Nuno Espirito Santo's side have managed to keep their AFC Champions League unbeaten record intact, though, overcoming Al Quwa Al Jawiya 1-0 on Monday night with Abderrazzaq Hamed Allah scoring the winner in stoppage time.
While that performance was far from convincing, the hosts will still head into this match with confidence, having won their last encounter against this opponent 3-0 back in March and are unbeaten against them in their last three meetings.
The defending champions have fallen six points off the league leaders after their last result, but a win in this match will give them some much-needed momentum heading into their Round of 16 King's Cup tie against Al Feiha in midweek.
Meanwhile, Al Hazem's top-flight journey has not gone as they would have hoped so far as they find themselves in the drop zone after 10 matches, although it is still fairly compact at the bottom of the table.
The Hazemies were winless in their first nine league games this season but finally managed to claim their first top-flight victory last week, beating Al Raed 4-3 in a crucial bottom-of-the-table clash at home.
Mohammed Al Thani and Muhammed Badamosi scored a goal apiece in each half, while Comoros international Faiz Selemani bagged a brace to give his side the much-needed three points, taking them off the foot of the table.
Daniel Carreno will need to address his side's poor defensive form if they are to have any chance of survival this season, as they are already the worst-performing defence in the league with 26 goals conceded in just 10 games.
Team News
The hosts are still without Abdullah Al-Jadani, who is recovering from a cruciate ligament tear, which will see Marcelo Grohe continue between the sticks.
In defence, Ahmed Hegazy (cruciate ligament) and Aseel Abed (hernia) are expected to be sidelined for the foreseeable future, while Jota is still ineligible for selection.
The visitors are likely to remain unchanged in attack for this match after the forward trio of Al-Thani, Badamosi and Selemani all got on the scoresheet last week against Al-Raed.
Ben Hassan Traore was hauled off just after the half-hour mark last week with a knock and is likely to miss out in this one, which should see Mohammed Abousaban step in as the deepest-lying midfielder.
Al Ittihad possible starting lineup:
Grohe; Al-Shanqeeti, Hawsawi, Felipe, Bamsaud; Romarinho, Kante, Al Nashri, Coronado; Al-Amri, Benzema
Al Hazem possible starting lineup:
Zaid; Al Mhemaid, Ricard, Viana, Qasheesh; Vinicius, Abousaban, Toze; Al-Thani, Badamosi, Selemani
We say: Al Ittihad 3-1 Al Hazem
While the visitors did manage to claim their first league win last week, they face a major step up in class in this match and are likely to struggle to take anything off the defending champions. Al Hazem have shipped eight goals in their last two away matches, and we feel they may concede a few more here as well.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Devesh Jaganath
