Al Ittihad will be looking to bounce back to winning ways in the Saudi Pro League when they play host to Al Okhdood at Prince Abdullah al-Faisal Stadium on Friday afternoon.
The defending champions will head into this game in fifth place with 37 points, while the visitors are 13th in the league standings with 23 points after 22 matches this season.
Match preview
© Reuters
With 36 points to play for between now and the end of the season, it is almost certain that Al Ittihad will not defend their league title this term, as following their 3-1 defeat to Al Hilal last week, they are now 25 points behind the runaway league leaders.
Following last week's league defeat, Al-Numoor suffered another blow in their quest for silverware this season on Tuesday night, losing 2-0 in the first leg of their AFC Champions League tie to the Blue Waves.
With a record of four wins, one draw and three losses since taking over from Nuno Espirito Santo, the pressure will be building on Marcelo Gallardo to find a run of good results, and he will be looking for a positive performance from his side here ahead of a few favourable league fixtures.
This season at Prince Abdullah al-Faisal Stadium, Al Ittihad have managed six wins, one draw, and suffered four losses in 11 Saudi League matches, although three of those were against the sides that currently hold the top three places in the league standings.
Nadi Al-Sha'ab won the reverse fixture 1-0 back in September last year thanks to a second-half goal by Karim Benzema and they are the clear favourites in this one, according to the bookmakers.
© Reuters
Meanwhile, newly promoted Al Okhdood would have been relatively pleased with their output over the first half of the season and head into gameweek 23 five points clear of Al Tai, who are the first side below the dotted line.
Much of their joy can be attributed to the introduction of Martin Sevela, who made a very positive start to his tenure as manager, securing three wins and a draw in his first four matches since joining midway through November.
However, following an against-the-odds 3-2 victory in their first match after the international break against Al Ahli, the new manager will now be hoping to avoid a third straight league defeat, having lost the last two games 3-1 to Al Taawoun and 2-1 to Al Riyadh last week.
Their underdog status here is warranted, though, as the Najran-based club have failed to win any of their last six away games in the top flight (W0 D1 L5) and failed to score in four games during this current winless run.
Team News
© Reuters
Al Ittihad are missing several key players at the moment, starting with Saad Al-Mousa, who will be serving the second of his three-match ban for the straight red he received against Al Wehda at the end of last month.
In addition, Abdullah Al-Jadani, Ahmed Sharahili and Ahmed Bamasud are all likely to miss the remainder of the season due to cruciate ligament tears, while Luiz Felipe is still nursing a muscle injury and will be sidelined for the foreseeable future.
For the visitors, Hassan Al-Habib was withdrawn shortly after the hour mark against Al Riyadh last week and could make way for Saleh Al-Harthi to return to the starting 11 in this match.
Leandre Tawamba leads the side with five goals in all competitions this season and should maintain his place in attack alongside Nigerian forward Saviour Godwin and Real Betis loanee Alex Collado.
Al Ittihad possible starting lineup:
Maiouf; Hawsawi, Hegazy, Mosa, Sahafi; Farhan, Fabinho, Kante; Benzema, Hamdallah, Romarinho
Al Okhdood possible starting lineup:
Vitor; Al Zabdani, Kvirkvelia, Burca, Al Mansour; Pedroza, Al-Muwallad, Al-Harthi; Collado, Tawamba, Godwin
We say: Al Ittihad 2-1 Al Okhdood
Al Akhdoud have shown major signs of improvement since the introduction of their new manager, but their away record is still very poor with five losses in their last six. Al Ittihad need a positive result here following back-to-back defeats in the league and cup and we feel they will be able to grind out a win in this one.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Devesh Jaganath
