Sports Mole previews Thursday’s Saudi Pro League clash between Al Shabab and Al Hazem, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
Off the back of ending a run of five games without a win last time out, Al Shabab welcome Al Hazem to the Prince Faisal bin Fahd Stadium on Thursday.
On the other hand, the away side make the journey to Riyadh still in search of their first three points of the 2023 Saudi Pro League season.
Match preview
Al Shabab just about managed to see off the threat of Al Feiha courtesy of a 1-0 triumph in Friday’s encounter at the Al Majma’ah Sports City.
Romain Saiss opened the scoring seven minutes into the second period and that was enough to get the job done for Juan Brown’s men in a tight affair.
As a result, the White Lions have moved out of the bottom three into 13th in the Saudi Pro League table, a point clear of relegation danger.
Lying in store next is the challenge of an opposing outfit who have been beaten in each of the last eight meetings between the teams since 2011.
Having recently suffered a first home defeat in seven matches, Thursday’s hosts will be keen to avoid back to back losses in front of their fans for the first time since May.
Al Hazem had to make do with a share of the spoils in a 1-1 draw against Al Taee at the Al-Hazem Club Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Filipe Gouveia’s men fell behind to Bernard Mensah’s opener before Toze restored parity on the stroke of half time from the penalty spot.
With three points picked up from twice as many matches so far, Al Hazem remain rooted to the bottom of the standings, one point adrift of safety.
Ahead of a crunch cup encounter against Al Arabi to come three days later, Thursday’s visitors set out to lay down an early marker with a dominant display here.
Al Shabab Saudi Pro League form:
Al Hazem Saudi Pro League form:
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Team News
Nader Al-Sharari will not play any part for Al Shabab here after he was sent off in the final knockings of the defeat to Al Feiha last time out.
Iago Santos missed the aforementioned game due to a knock, but the Brazilian is largely expected to take Al-Sharari’s place in the starting lineup.
Romain Saiss will be looking to come up trumps once again following a debut to remember for the home side, where he grabbed the all-important winner.
Al Hazem’s Basil Al Sayyali is a doubt for this one after he was forced off with an injury scare less than an hour into the draw against Al Taee.
Should Al Sayyali be deemed unfit to participate, 25-year-old Yousef Al Shammari is the favourite to take his compatriot’s place into the XI.
Al Shabab possible starting lineup:
Kim; Al Harbi, Saiss, Al-Sharari, Al Saqour; Cuellar, Banega, Al Qahtani; Carrasco, Bahbri, Diallo
Al Hazem possible starting lineup:
Dahmen; Al Aazmi, Viana, Ricardo, Al Bakr; Vina, Traore, Al Shammari, Selemani; Toze, Badamosi
We say: Al Shabab 2-1 Al Hazem
Buoyed by their victory last time out, Al Shabab will head into this one full of confidence, and coupled with the added advantage of playing on home turf, we can see the hosts emerging victorious, albeit by only a narrow margin.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting under 3.5 goals in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.Under 3.5:data
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