Al Ittihad will be looking to continue their good form as they visit Al Okhdood in the Saudi Pro League. The Jeddah giants lost 4-3 to their bitter rivals Al Hilal. Al Okhdood lost to Al Riyadh 1-0 the previous time.
Preview (Al Okhdood vs. Al Ittihad)
With one win, one draw, and three losses, Al Okhdood, who were promoted from the second tier the previous season, has struggled to get off to a good start in their maiden top-flight campaign. They now hold 13th place in the Saudi Pro League rankings. After drawing with Al Shabab in their season opener, Al Okhdood suffered two draws and three straight losses. The team led by Jorge Mendonca did, however, triumph in their most recent contest for their first victory of the season. They won 1-0 over Al Riyadh. Only three goals have been scored by Al Okhdood in their first five league games this year. With regard to offensive effectiveness, they are just behind one other squad.
Despite the fact that just six teams have let up fewer goals in the Saudi Pro League this season than Al Okhdood. They will be aiming to avoid an immediate relegation to the second division. In their five games this year, Al Ittihad has won four of them. In the rankings, they are third, one point behind the top two and eight points ahead of Al Okhdood. Nuno Espirito Santo, a former manager of Tottenham Hotspur and Wolverhampton Wanderers. He is in charge of the current Pro League champions although they started their title defense with four straight clean-sheet wins while scoring an astounding 12 goals.
Aleksandar Mitrovic, a former striker for Fulham, scored a hat-trick to help his club win in a thrilling 4-3 game. In their most recent encounter, the Lions fell short of Al Hilal in a seven-goal thriller. Last time out, the Jeddah giants’ midfield included N’Golo Kante and Fabinho. Reigning Ballon d’Or winner Karim Benzema scored his second goal for Al Ittihad. This was a clear indication of the team’s strength.
Team News
Jorge Mendonca, the manager of Al Okhdood, is expected to continue employing his customary 5-4-1 formation on Thursday although Leandre Tawamba of Cameroon will serve as the center forward. Brazilian goalie Paulo Vitor will continue to play for the hosts while Florin Tanase, an offensive midfielder from Romania, will look to increase his current tally of one goal and one assist. For the visitors, Karim Benzema will be in charge of the attack. Igor Coronado and Romarinho are capable of making flanking charges.
This league season, Abderrazak Hamdallah has five goals in as many games. He’ll likely fall behind Benzema in the scoring charts as he tries to overtake Cristiano Ronaldo. Al Ittihad will probably be without Ahmed Hegazy, Abdullah Al-Jadani, and Aseel Abed for some time, according to the most recent injury reports. Due to Al Ittihad’s 15 league goals and Al Okhdood’s three goals in five games this season, we predict the defending champions will easily overcome the top-flight newcomers on Thursday.
Al Okhdood 0 – 3 Al Ittihad
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