JEDDAH: The long climb back to where it used to be continues for Al Ahli when it faces Al Hazem in one of three round 13 matches in the Saudi Professional League on Saturday.
A perennial top contender in the past, Ahli is struggling in fifth place on 15 points in the competition.
Ahli will be looking to duplicate its last victory over Al Raid when it hosts Hazem of Al-Rass at the Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Stadium in Jeddah.
The first leg match between the two teams in Al-Rass was cancelled because a number of Hazem players had been down by the swine flu.
Hazem, which is safe from relegation at this stage of the tournament, drew its last match against Al-Nasr 2-2 in Al-Rass to rank eighth in the team standings on 12 points.
In the second match, Al-Ittihad is away to Al-Qadisia in Alkhobar.
Ittihad was said to reel from internal problems and not a few were surprised by its performance in the 1-1 draw against lowly Al-Fateh in Jeddah last week.
Unless Ittihad fixes its woes fast chances are the team will be left behind in the race for the championship crown.
Qadisia is next to last place in the standings with a mere seven points. But even so Qadisia embarrassed league leader Al-Hilal before eventually losing by 2-1 in the match last week, lining itself up as a dangerous customer for Ittihad.
In the last match of the day, Al-Fateh hosts Al-Raid in Al-Ahsa.
Fateh is favored against an Al-Raid team sitting at the bottom of the 12-team field. Fateh is in sixth position on 14 points.
