Doha: It will be a keen battle for supremacy when Al Khor play Al Ahli in Week 11 of the QNB Stars League on Saturday. at the Al Khor Stadium.
As the tournament reaches its halfway mark, the teams go into the game against contrasting backdrop.
Al Ahli are fresh from their 4-1 defeat of strong title contenders Al Sadd, whereas Al Khor suffered a 0-6 loss at the hands of Al Gharafa.
The Brigadiers thus completed a hat-trick of victories, having also beaten Al Shahania and Al Arabi in the previous rounds.
Al Ahli are sixth in the QNB Stars League table with 15 points (five victories and as many defeats). They scored 18 goals and conceded 20 to have a goal difference of -2. Al Khor are placed 11th with eight points (two wins, five defeats and two draws) and will be desperate for points sooner rather than later. Goal difference is also not on their side (-10, eight goals for and 18 against).
Al Khor have only Al Kharaitiyat below them in the standings, so they seriously face relegation threat.
Al Ahli have the likes of Omid Ibrahimi, who scored two goals against Al Sadd, Nigel de Jong, Mohsine Moutaouly, Mohammed Reza, Meshaal Abdulla, Ali Ferydoon and Abdulrahman Fahmy in their ranks.
Al Khor will mainly have the services of Wagner Ferreira, Hilal Mohammed, Hamad Mansour and Naif Al Beriki.
Meanwhile, Qatar SC have their task cut out when they run into Al Rayyan on Saturday, at 17:15 at the Qatar SC Stadium.
Al Rayyan had made a big leap last week by jumping from fourth to second, behind Al Duhail, in the standings with 18 points following their 2-1 victory over Al Sailiya.
It was The Lions’ fifth win. They have also recorded three draws and two defeats to have a goal difference of 0 (10 goals for and 10 against). Qatar SC, who beat Al Arabi 1-0 last week, also gained much ground with the win as The Kings are ninth with 11 points (three wins, two draws and five defeats). Their goal difference is -5, having scored 12 goals and conceded 17.
Qatar SC had started off the 2018-19 season with a bang, defeating Al Gharafa, but they went through a lean patch that resulted in them receiving a series of negative results and coach Abdulla Mubarak being dismissed.
Then came Argentina’s 1986 FIFA World Cup winner Sergio Batista at the helm and the team started producing good results.
Batista made The Kings an organised side, both offensively and defensively. That they have collected seven points from their last three games while conceding just one goal is proof of it. As far as Al Rayyan are concerned, they suddenly found their rhythm and are even nurturing title hopes. So they would not want to drop points any more.
