JEDDAH: Local outfit Al-Ittihad will host Makkah-based Al-Wehda club in a crucial round nine encounter of the Saudi Professional League which will be played at the Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Stadium here today.
Ittihad, who top the table with 22 points, will go all out for the three points in order to maintain their unbeaten run and widen the points tally from the other teams.
A win for Wehda, who are in the sixth position with 12 points with three wins and three draws, will take them to the fourth position.
Ittihad’s Argentinian coach Gabriel Calderon will be without some of his key players who are rested after doing duty for the national team following their World Cup qualifying match against South Korea. Instead, Calderon will have to rely on some new faces and is expected to continue with the 4-4-2 formation.
However, Ittihad still has a strong strikeforce led by Emad Miteb and Emad Busharwan upfront ably supported in midfield with skipper Muhammad Nur and Oman’s Ahmad Hadeed.
Wehda club’s German coach Theo Bukair is well aware of his rival team’s plan and will go on an all out attack for an early goal. Playing with the same formation as his rivals, Bukair will field Alaa Al-Kuwaikbi (back after an injury) in place of their star striker Essa Al-Muhayyani, who was shown the red card in their last match will not be able to play.
In yesterday’s round nine match of the league, Al-Watani recorded their first win when they scored a comfortable 3-1 win over Najran.
The win enabled the Tabuk side move to the tenth spot while Najran remain eighth with 10 points.
