Al-Shabab vs Al-Hilal

Alhilal will travel to the Al-Shabab Club Stadium on Saturday to face Al Shabab in their bid to open a three-point gap between them and the team above them in the Saudi Professional League log.

The White Lions will come into the weekend’s match eager to regain advantage over the visitors and further establish themselves on a higher tier on the standings because they have dropped the last three games against the SC.

This Falcons team was unable to jump into the top place in the Saudi Professional League schedule after a rather dour 1-1 performance against Al-Okhdood in the Prince Hathloul bin Abdulaziz Sports City last Friday.

The White Lions starting fixed themselves a first half lead after the match official awarded an own goal to Naif Assery on the stroke of halftime before Knowledge Musona equalized in the second half 49th minute.

Before that streak of victory, Al Shabab was on a four-match winning streak, the latest being a 2-0 home win over Al Riyadh in the round of 16 of the King’s Cup match with goals by Harounre Camara and experienced midfielder Giacomo Bonaventura.

Having witnessed their second back-to-back away-faced match, Victor Pereira’s side returns home with the second-best record in the division having accrued 15 points in their five games, 14 goals and four goals against on the road.

In the Pro League Al Shabab have collected 22 points from eleven matches to place fourth with teams Al Nassr and Al Qadsiah level on points.

In contrast, Al-Hilal left the AFC Champions League race to the 100 percent check as they only got a 1-1 draw with the Qatar-based Al-Sadd side in the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium on Tuesday.

Paulo Otavio scored with 19 minutes left to force a share of the spoils, but Ali Albulayhi broke the tie after just 10 minutes to put the visitors on their way.

Al-Hilal is currently two points behind first-place Al Ahli, who have a perfect record, in the Champions League Western Division standings after accumulating 13 of a possible 15 points.

Jorge Jesus's team will now focus on the Pro League, where they lost 3-2 to Al-Khaleej last Saturday after giving up a winner in the 85th minute, their first loss of the year.

The striking tandem of Yannick Carrasco, a former player for Atletico Madrid, and Fahad Al-Muwallad will not be playing for Al Shabab as they continue to be sidelined.

Since suffering a cruciate ligament injury against Al Orubah on October 24, veteran goalkeeper Seung-gyu Kim has missed all four of the team's games and is not available for the home team.

The 33-year-old Moroccan forward Abderrazak Hamdallah is a serious doubt for Saturday's match after missing the match against Al Okhdood due to a muscular ailment. With nine victories and one draw from their 11 league games, Al-Hilal has 28 points out of a possible 33, which puts them two points behind Al Ittihad in first position.