Al Okhdood will be hoping to earn their first victory in the Saudi Pro League when they face off against Al-Taawoun at the Prince Hathloul Bin Abdul Aziz Sport City Stadium on Tuesday afternoon.
The hosts come into this match following a 1-0 loss to high-flyers Al Ahli Saudi last week, while the visitors kept their unbeaten league record for this season intact with a 1-0 home win over Abha.
Al Okhdood earned promotion to the top flight for the first time in their history last season, when they finished in third place in the First Division League with 68 points, four behind the league winners Al Ahli.
One of the major positives of last season was their solid home record that began with six consecutive wins at the start of the campaign and went on to nine matches unbeaten, including seven wins and two draws.
However, things have not gone according to plan just yet this season for Jorge Mendonca‘s side, as they have only managed to take one point from their opening three league matches, which came in a 1-1 draw against Al Shabab on matchday one.
Based on their early-season performances, the hosts look as though they will be a part of the bottom-half battle in the league this season, and Mendonca will likely have a list of the fixtures that they will be targeting to pick up points in, such as next week’s meeting with Al Riyadh.
Still, matches against top-half opponents this week and title contenders Al Ittihad next month will give the hosts an opportunity for a free hit at the big sides, and strong performances in those matches will do wonders for their confidence as the season progresses.
Meanwhile, after finishing fifth last season, Al-Taawoun will likely be aiming to get back in contention for AFC Champions League qualification this term after a few seasons of on-and-off form.
Pericles Chamusca‘s side started this season with a 1-1 draw away to Al Fateh on opening day but have won both matches since then, including a very good 2-0 win over Cristiano Ronaldo‘s Al Nassr two weeks ago.
The visitors strengthened at the back over the summer by bringing in Andrei Girotto from Nantes, and the Brazilian was excellent in the last two matches, playing a huge role in keeping consecutive clean sheets, which is something that his side were unable to do the entire of last season.
While we are yet to see if Al-Taawoun can continue their winning form against the likes of Al Ittihad and Al Ahli, among others this season, they are still one of only six sides that are unbeaten after three matches and will be firmly expecting to extend that run against this opponent.
Alex Collado will be eligible to return in this match, having served his one-match ban for the two yellow cards he received against Al Fateh a couple of weeks ago.
Florin Tanase is the only player to score from open play for the hosts this season, and he should lead the line again alongside Ahmed Mostafa.
Mateus has looked very impressive for the visitors since arriving from J1 League’s Nagoya Grampus and opened his account for his new employers last week against Abha.
Leandre Tawamba got his first goal for Al-Taawoun against Al Nassr and should partner Mateus in attack, with the Spaniard Alvaro Medran occupying the number 10 role.
Al Okhdood possible starting lineup:
Vitor; Al Zabdani, Alyami, Kvirkvelia, Burca; Khamis, Al Shaikh, Al Muwallad, Collado; Tanase, Mostafa
Al-Taawoun possible starting lineup:
Mailson; Al Oyayari, Girotto, Kadesh, Faqeehi; Flavio, El Mahdioui, Bahusayn, Medran; Mateus, Tawamba
The visitors have looked very impressive in the early stages and will see this as the type of match they have to win in order to have a chance of challenging for the AFC Champions League spots this season. We feel they will grind out a third consecutive win in this one.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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