Preview: Al-Hilal vs. Al Ettifaq – prediction, team news, lineups

Al Etifaq will be the next team to try to finish Al-Hilal‘s unbeaten Saudi Pro League record when the two clash at the Kingdom Arena on Friday night.

The hosts dropped points for the first time this season against rivals Al-Nassr in their last game, 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 end last week in the Riyadh Derby, a result which closed the gap on second-placed Al Ittihad to just a single point heading into matchweek 10.

However, the Blue Waves resumed business as usual three days later and maintained their place at the top of their group in the AFC Champions League Elite with a commanding 3-0 win over Iranian outfit Esteghlal at this venue.

Alexander Mitrovic scored a hat-trick for his side in that match, taking his tally for the season to 17 in 15 games across all competitions, 10 of which have been scored in league competition.

Despite sharing the spoils with their neighbors last time, Jorge JesusThe team is still unbeaten in 45 league games, 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 matches, while the last time they tasted defeat at the Kingdom Arena was at the start of March 2023.

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Meanwhile, after flying out of the gate with three straight wins at the start of the season, Al Ettifaq appear to have run into a wall and are now aiming to avoid a seventh league game in a row without a win.

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 dropped to 12th in the standings with just 11 points from nine matches.

Without a doubt, Steven Gerrard will be feeling the pressure at this point, and although his side earned a 1-0 win over Al Qadsia in the Gulf Champions League in midweek, most would probably agree that it was far from a convincing performance.

However, the one big positive for the Knights of Ad-Dahna is that they are unbeaten away from home this season and have earned eight of their 11 top-flight points on their travels (W2 D2 L0).

Al Ettifaq still haven’t beaten this opponent in any of their last 12 meetings, 11 of which ended in defeat, and they have been outscored by the Blue Power 27-5 in 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 are considering sacking Neymarcontract after the Brazilian suffered another injury setback in their AFC Champions League match earlier this week.

Sergej Milinkovic-Savic scored his third league goal and sixth of the season against Al-Nassr last time out and is likely to be joined in midfield by Mohamed Kanno for this match with Ruben Neves currently sidelined with a knee injury.

Demarai Grey hasn’t featured for Al Ettifaq since the international break in October and is likely to miss this game as well, which should see João Costa continue to occupy the left flank.

Gerrard’s decision to field both Moussa Dembele and Karl Toko Ekambi in the last league game failed to produce the expected result and the latter is likely to drop to the bench this week, potentially for Alvaro Medran on the midfield.

Al-Hilal possible starting lineup:
Bounou; Cancelo, Koulibaly, Al Bulaihi, Lodi; Kanno, Milinkovic-Savic; Leonardo, Malcolm, Al-Dawsari; Mitrovic

Al Ettifaq possible starting line-up:
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 game, Al-Hilal will be determined to make amends this week and given their record at home and in this game, it’s hard to back up against them winning this one.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match, please click here.

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