Gamweek 27 in the Saudi Pro League tosses up a crucial matchup between top-four contenders Al Ittihad and Al-Taawoun at the King Abdullah Sports City on Friday evening.
This has the makings of a titanic battle as both these sides are currently locked on 46 points apiece with an identical goal difference of 16 and drew the reverse fixture back in October 1-1.
Match preview
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With just eight games left to play this season and a 28-point gap separating the hosts and the current league leaders Al-Hilal, Al Ittihad are now guaranteed to be outgoing champions in 2023-24.
Their title defence ultimately came to an end on Monday evening when they suffered their eighth loss of the campaign to Al-Ahli on the road, with Feras Al Brikan scoring the only goal of the match in the first half.
Fair to say, it has been a very poor season for Nadi Al-Sha'ab. They suffered an early exit from the FIFA Club World Cup in Jeddah and were sent packing from the AFC Champions League last month by the Blue Waves, who they failed to lay a glove on over the two legs, eventually losing 4-0 on aggregate.
While it is perhaps still a little premature to definitively assess Marcelo Gallardo's impact since replacing Nuno Espirito Santo, this match may be crucial in his judgement as it could very easily end up being a decider in the race for the top four.
When these sides last met, Karim Benzema gave Ittihad the lead in the first half but cancelled out his goal by heading into his own net just three minutes later, marking the first-ever own goal of his career at the age of 35.
That result was the start of a five-match winless run for Al-Taawoun, but after getting back in the win column against Al Shabab at the start of December, they have been steadily closing the gap to the top four and now have a golden opportunity to overtake one of the PIF-owned giants.
The Wolves will head to Jeddah with their tails up after coming from two goals down to beat Al Tai 3-2 on Tuesday night, which extended their current unbeaten run to three matches while the only loss they have conceded in their last seven league games was against the unbeaten league leaders.
Pericles Chamusca's side also boast the joint-third-best away record in the division with 23 points earned from a possible 39 and are undefeated in their last six outings dating back to November last year.
Team News
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Benzema, who has not scored in the league since a 4-2 win over Al Khaleej on November 30, started for a second match in succession on Monday and will look to bring an end to his goal drought here.
The French international will likely line up in attack alongside Abderrazak Hamdallah, who is the side's top scorer with 25 for the season, including 18 in the top flight, which is the third-best tally behind Aleksander Mitrovic (22) and Cristiano Ronaldo (29).
Fabinho, formerly of Liverpool and Real Madrid, has been ruled out for up to 10 weeks with a muscle tissue injury, which should see N'Golo Kante drop in as the deepest-lying midfielder in front of Ahmed Hegazy and Luiz Felipe.
Al-Taawoun will remain without Gambian attacker Musa Barrow, who has missed the last three matches for the Wolves since being stretchered off in the final minute of their 1-0 loss to Al Ahli last month.
Barrow will be joined on the sidelines by midfielder Rakan Al-Tulayhi, who suffered a cruciate ligament injury early in the season and is expected to miss the remainder of the league campaign.
Al Ittihad possible starting lineup:
Al-Maiouf; Al Yami, Felipe, Hegazy, Kadesh; Romarinho, Kante, Al Shamrani, Jota; Hamdallah, Benzema
Al-Taawoun possible starting lineup:
Maylson; Al-Ghamdi, Al-Saluli, Girotto, Al Nasser; El Mahdioui, Flavio; Al Kuwaykibi, Guanca, Al-Roqi; Pedro
We say: Al Ittihad 2-1 Al-Taawoun
Al Ittihad were officially eliminated from the title race last week and they now have to ensure that they can at least salvage a spot in the top four. Fortunately for the outgoing champions, they have performed well at home recently, particularly in attack which has helped them to a four-match winning streak, and we feel they will be able to edge Al-Taawoun to a narrow victory in this one.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Devesh Jaganath
