Sports Mole previews Friday’s Saudi Pro League clash between Al-Hilal and Al Ettifaq, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
Al Ettifaq will be the next team to try and end Al-Hilal‘s unbeaten Saudi Pro League record when the two collide at the Kingdom Arena on Friday evening.
The hosts dropped points for the first time this season against rivals Al-Nassr in their last match, while the visitors suffered a 2-0 defeat to Al-Qadsiah in their last outing.
Match preview
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Al-Hilal saw their perfect top-flight record this season brought to an end last week in the Riyadh Derby, a result which reduced the gap to second-placed Al Ittihad to just a single point heading into gameweek 10.
However, the Blue Waves resumed business as usual three days later, maintaining their place at the top of their group in the AFC Champions League Elite with a commanding 3-0 victory over Iranian outfit Esteghlal at this venue.
Aleksander Mitrovic netted a hat-trick for his side in that match, which took his goal tally for this season to 17 in 15 matches across all competitions, 10 of which have been scored in the league competition.
Despite sharing the spoils with their neighbours last time out, Jorge Jesus‘s side are still unbeaten in 45 league matches, with their last defeat coming back in May 2023.
At home, Al-Hilal have won each of their last 20 Pro League matches, scoring two or more goals in all but one of those games, while the last time the tasted defeat at the Kingdom Arena was at the start of March 2023.
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Meanwhile, after flying out the gates with three consecutive wins at the start of the season, Al Ettifaq seem to have run into a brick wall and are now aiming to avoid a seventh consecutive league match without a victory.
Following their 2-0 loss to newly promoted Al Qadsiah last weekend, the Commandos have now lost three of their last four league games and have fallen to 12th place in the standings with just 11 points in nine games.
Undoubtedly, Steven Gerrard will be feeling the pressure at present, and while his side did notch up a 1-0 win over Al Qadsia in the Gulf Champions League in midweek, most would likely agree that it was far from a convincing performance.
The one major positive for the Knights of Ad-Dahna, though, is that they are unbeaten on the road this season, and have earned eight of their 11 points in the top flight on their travels (W2 D2 L0).
Still, Al Ettifaq have not beaten this opponent in any of their last 12 encounters, 11 of which ended in defeat, and they have been outscored by the Blue Power 27-5 during that period.
Al-Hilal Saudi Pro League form:
Al Ettifaq Saudi Pro League form:
Team News
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The big news coming out of the Al-Hilal camp are reports that the club is considering terminating Neymar‘s contract after the Brazilian suffered another injury setback in their AFC Champions League matchup earlier in the week.
Sergej Milinkovic-Savic scored his third league goal and sixth of the season against Al-Nassr last time out, and he will likely be joined in midfield by Mohamed Kanno for this match with Ruben Neves currently sidelined with a knee injury.
Demarai Gray has not featured for Al Ettifaq since the October international break and is likely to miss this match as well, which should see Joao Costa continue to occupy the left flank.
Gerrard’s decision to field both Moussa Dembele and Karl Toko Ekambi in the last league match failed to yield the expected result and the latter is likely to drop to the bench this week, potentially for Alvaro Medran in midfield.
Al-Hilal possible starting lineup:
Bounou; Cancelo, Koulibaly, Al Bulaihi, Lodi; Kanno, Milinkovic-Savic; Leonardo, Malcolm, Al-Dawsari; Mitrovic
Al Ettifaq possible starting lineup:
Rodak; Alolayan, Al-Sebyani, Madu, Otaibi; Fofana, Al-Malki, Wijnaldum, Medran; Costa, Dembele
We say: Al-Hilal 3-1 Al Ettifaq
After dropping points to Al-Nassr in their last match, Al-Hilal will be determined to make amends this week, and given their record at home and in this fixture, it is difficult to back against them winning this one.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.