Preview: Al Okhdood vs. Al-Nassr – prediction, workforce information, lineups5 min read

The late kickoff on Thursday night within the Saudi Professional League will see Al-Nassr journey to Najran to face Al Okhdood on the Prince Hathloul Bin Abdul Aziz Sport Metropolis Stadium.

Al Okhdood enter gameweek 31 above the dotted line by the slenderest of margins, whereas Al-Nassr are enjoying to maintain the title race alive for not less than one other couple of days.

Match preview

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After gaining promotion to the Saudi Professional League simply final time period, Al Okhdood’s major aim this season would probably have been to safe their top-flight standing, however they nonetheless have loads of work to do to attain that concentrate on.

Following a torrid run of seven matches with no victory, together with six losses and a draw, the membership opted to half methods with Martin Sevela on April 17 after simply 14 matches in cost and put their survival hopes within the arms of former Damac boss Noureddine Zekri.

The brand new supervisor started his tenure with a loss in opposition to his former membership however didn’t have to attend lengthy for his first victory, together with his present facet securing what may transform a significant three factors in opposition to Abha per week later.

That gave the Najran-based membership a two-point buffer above the drop zone, although that was erased final week once they performed out a goalless draw away to Al Hazem, whereas Pitso Mosimane and co picked an against-the-odds 3-1 victory over Al Ittihad final Friday.

Al Okhdood now face an opponent that overcame them 3-0 within the reverse fixture, and one other loss right here may see them drop to second-last within the desk if Abha keep away from defeat and Al Tai beat Al Raed later within the weekend.

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In the meantime, gameweek 30 was bittersweet for Al-Nassr, who secured their AFC Champions League qualification for subsequent season but additionally noticed the title slip virtually fully out of their grasp.

Al Hilal gained their postponed match from spherical 28 in opposition to Al Ahli to revive their 12-point benefit over the Knights of Najd, and with simply 4 video games left to play within the season, the Blue Waves will safe the title this week in the event that they get a degree or higher in opposition to Al Hazem on Saturday afternoon.

Undoubtedly, 2023-24 will go down as a disappointment for Luis Castro‘s facet, who introduced within the likes of Sadio Mane, Seko Fofana, Marcelo Brozovic, Aymeric Laporte and Alex Telles this season however look set to come back up brief for the league title for a second consecutive marketing campaign and solely managed to achieve the quarter-final of the AFC Champions League.

Nonetheless, they are going to need to end the marketing campaign on a excessive and keep momentum main as much as the King’s Cup ultimate, when they are going to have their final probability to cease Al-Hilal from claiming the home treble this season.

Al-Alami picked up three factors final week, beating Al Wehda 6-0 at house, with Cristiano Ronaldo headlining the event. The Portuguese famous person netted three within the match, marking the 66th hat-trick of his profession, taking him 10 away from Lionel Messi (56).

Al Okhdood Saudi Professional League kind:

Al-Nassr Saudi Professional League kind:

Workforce Information

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Al Okhdood can be with out the companies of centre-back Andrei Burca, who was substituted because of a muscle tear simply 23 minutes into their win over Abha, and he’s more likely to see out the rest of the marketing campaign from the sidelines.

Georgian defender Solomon Kvirkvelia stepped into the backline within the absence of Burca final week and is more likely to maintain his place alongside Saeed Al-Rubaie within the central defensive pairing, with Hamad Al-Mansour and Awadh Faraj at left and right-back respectively.

Al Nassr have a couple of absentees for this match, however maybe probably the most notable can be that of supervisor Luis Castro, who’s restricted from travelling after present process lung surgical procedure final month.

Waleed Abdullah (leg), Talisca (muscle), Abdulrahman Ghareeb (muscle) and Sami Al-Najei will miss this match because of harm, whereas Nawaf Al-Aqidi continues to be serving his five-month suspension.

Al Okhdood doable beginning lineup:
Vitor; Faraj, Kvirkvelia, Al-Rubaie, Al-Mansour; Al-Habib; Al Zubaidi, Pedroza, Collado, Godwin; Tawamba

Al-Nassr doable beginning lineup:
Ospina; Al Ghanam, Alawjami, Laporte, Telles; Al-Khaibari; Yahya, Otavio, Brozovic, Mane; Ronaldo

We are saying: Al Okhdood 1-3 Al-Nassr

Whereas six of Al Akhdoud’s eight wins this season have come on their house patch, they’re anticipated to wrestle in opposition to this star-studded Al-Nassr facet, who enter this match as large favourites. The league title is more likely to go to Al Hilal this weekend formally, however we really feel the Knights of Najd will extend issues for an additional couple of days by profitable this one.

For knowledge evaluation of the most probably outcomes, scorelines and extra for this match please click on right here.

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