JEDDAH: Al-Ittihad and Al-Hilal secured vital victories in the Saudi Professional League in the advanced round 17 yesterday.
At Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal stadium in Jeddah, Ittihad found no difficulty defeating cellar-dweller Abha 3-0 in a one-sided match. In Riyadh, Hilal crushed Al-Hazem, which is languishing in 10th place with only eight points.
The wins provided a psychological boost for both teams ahead of their showdown next Thursday.
Ittihad strengthened its grip on first place in the team standings with 29 points while Abha was in the danger of being relegated with only four points. Hilal trails Ittihad in second place with 26 points.
Hilal delifevered a strong message to all and sundry through its striker Muhammad Al-Anbar who scored two goals in the match.
Al-Shabab is back no track after defeating Al-Raid 4-0 in another one-sided match. Shabab moved up to third place with 19 points and temporarily pushed Al-Nasr down to fourth. Al-Raid is ninth with nine points.
Najran authored the round’s big surprise when it held fancied Al-Ittifaq to a 1-1 draw in Dammam. The result stands to benefit Al-Ahli, which now has the opportunity to take over fifth place from Ittifaq with a victory in its next match. Ittifaq and Najran have 15 and 11 points respectively.
