Al-Nassr will be aiming to pick up an 11th consecutive win across all competitions when they welcome Abha to Al-Awwal Park on Friday afternoon.
Meanwhile, the away side make the trip to Riyadh seeking to stop a dismal run which has seen them suffer four league defeats on the bounce.
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Al-Nassr made it two wins from as many AFC Champions League group-stage matches as they saw off the threat of Istiqlol Dushanbe in a 3-1 triumph on Monday.
Luis Castro‘s men went into the interval trailing to Senin Sebai‘s 44th-minute strike before a second-half goal from Cristiano Ronaldo and Anderson Talisca‘s double turned the game around.
Prior to that, the Knights of Najd defeated Al Taee in their most recent domestic encounter to move up to fourth place in the Saudi Pro League table.
Coming up next is the challenge of an opposing outfit who have been on the receiving end in five straight editions of this fixture by a combined score of 13-4.
Having netted 15 times across their most recent four matches on home turf, Friday’s hosts will be confident of putting on another attacking masterclass in front of their fans.
Abha fell to a 1-0 narrow defeat against Al Riyadh when the teams went head-to-head at the Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz Stadium on Saturday.
Czeslaw Michniewicz‘s men looked set to come away with a point having headed into the final six minutes of the clash on level terms before Andre Gray struck a late winner.
With six points picked up from their eight matches so far, the Leaders of the South sit 16th in the standings, albeit just one point adrift of safety.
Off the back of 14 away defeats in a row since the turn of the year, Friday’s visitors are faced with a daunting task as they look to avoid another fruitless outing on the road.
Cristiano Ronaldo has netted a whopping 11 times in his last nine matches for Al-Nassr, making him definitely one to keep an eye on here.
Anderson Talisca is also in fine goalscoring form for the home side here as the Brazilian aims to find the back of the net for a fifth game running.
Alex Telles is expected to return to the starting lineup after missing out on Monday’s continental action as a result of not being registered.
Forward Felipe Caicedo remains unavailable for Abha with a knee problem which has seen him fail to feature since the final day of last season.
Twenty-eight-year-old Fahad Jumayah failed to make the most of a rare start last time out and could be set to lose his place in the visitors’ XI.
Al-Nassr possible starting lineup:
Al Aqidi; Telles, Laporte, Lajami, Al Ghannam; Brozovic, Al Khaibari; Mane, Otavio, Talisca; Ronaldo
Abha possible starting lineup:
Tatarusanu; Al Qumayzi, Noguera, Al Sudani, Naji; Matic, Krychowiak; Al Oufi, Kamano, Al Ali; Toko Ekambi
Al Nassr have been near-perfect of late and will head into Friday’s involvement with the wind in their sails. We fully expect Ronaldo and co. to run riot once again en route to an emphatic win at the end of the 90 minutes.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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