Al Shabab's second match following the restart in the Saudi Pro League will see them play host to title challengers Al-Nassr at the Al-Shabab Club Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
The hosts are currently in 10th place in the league standings with 24 points after 20 matches, while the visitors are in second place with 49 points over the same period.
Match preview
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Al Shabab will be aiming for a better start to the second half of the campaign after ending 2023 in a bit of a slump, winning only one of their last seven matches of the year while losing three and drawing three.
The White Lion marked the campaign restart with a 1-0 win over Damak last week, with January arrival Ivan Rakitic scoring on debut for his new employers in the final 10 minutes of the match following Sanousi Al Hawsawi's sending off.
Rakitic was not the only one on debut last week, though, as Al Shabab also brought in former Flamengo manager Vitor Pereira during the break, and having won their first game with their new personnel, there is bound to be a sense of optimism in the dressing room.
Al Shabab failed to win any of their first three home games this season, but following a 4-1 victory over Al Hazm in mid-September, the hosts have lost only once in six games on home soil while winning four and drawing one of the remaining five.
However, they now face an Al Nassr side that cruised to a 4-0 win in the reverse fixture back in August, which marked their fourth consecutive match without victory against the Knights of Najd (W0 D1 L3).
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Meanwhile, Al Nassr will resume their quest to reel in league leaders Al Hilal, who maintained their seven-point advantage at the top of the league standings with both sides securing wins last weekend.
Al-Alami returned to league action with a 2-1 win over Al Fateh, which extended their current winning streak in the Saudi top flight to five matches while only suffering one defeat in their last 10, which was against the Blue Waves at the start of December.
Luis Castro's side were also involved in AFC Champions League action in midweek and booked their place in the quarter-final after Cristiano Ronaldo scored their second goal of the evening to give them a 3-0 aggregate win over Al Fayha.
The Portuguese superstar is now on 27 goals and 11 assists in 28 matches across all competitions in 2023-24 and currently leads the goalscorer charts in the league, two ahead of Aleksandar Mitrovic.
Barring that defeat to Al Hilal at the start of December, the visitors have won eight of their last nine away league games and have averaged over three goals scored per 90 in that time.
Team News
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Al Shabab were dealt a major blow during the Asian Cup, with first-team goalkeeper Kim Seung-gyu tearing his anterior cruciate ligament during the group stages, which ruled him out of that competition and potentially the remainder of the season.
Rakitic will almost certainly retain his spot in the middle of the park alongside Colombian Gustavo Cuellar, while Senegalese international Habib Diallo will hope to make the starting 11 after coming off the bench in the last match.
Castro has a bit of a goalkeeping crisis, currently missing his first-choice option David Ospina, who missed a large chunk of the first half of the season due to an elbow injury and is now set for another spell on the sideline after picking up an injury to his thigh in a friendly against Al Hilal last month.
Backup keeper Nawaf Al-Aqidi is currently serving a ban handed down by the Saudi Football Federation, and the third-choice shot-stopper Raghed Al-Najjar has now been ruled out for several weeks after picking up an injury in last week's win over Al Fateh.
Waleed Abdullah lined up between the sticks in midweek and is likely to do so again on Sunday. Abdulrahman Ghareeb and Sultan Al-Ghanam are also ruled out of this match due to injury.
Al Shabab possible starting lineup:
Al Absi; Sharari, Santos, Saiss; Bahbri, Cuellar, Rakitic, Al-Harbi; Vitinho, Carlos, Carrasco
Al-Nassr possible starting lineup:
Abdullah; Lajami, Al-Amri, Laporte, Behich; Al-Khaibari, Brozovic; Yahya, Otavio, Mane; Ronaldo
We say: Al Shabab 1-3 Al-Nassr
Al Nassr have put on three very impressive performances since returning from the international break and are the clear favourites to bag the points in this match. The Knights of Najd have dominated this fixture in recent seasons, and we feel they will secure another victory in this one.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Devesh Jaganath
