Aiming to end a tough run of form and move back towards the top of the Saudi Pro League table, Al-Hilal will travel to the King Abdullah Sport City Stadium to take on Al Fayha on Friday.
Following a defeat last Friday, the visitors trail leaders Al-Ittihad by six points, while their hosts have moved four points above the relegation zone with a four-match unbeaten run.
Match preview
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Al Fayha return to Saudi Pro League action on Friday aiming to make it five games unbeaten to increase their lead over the bottom four.
Following a ninth-placed finish last time around, Al-Burtuqali experienced a tough first half to the 2024-25 campaign, as a defeat in early February left them 14th on just 16 points from 19 matches, with that opening run including a nine-match winless run between October and mid-January.
Pedro Emanuel's side have since bounced back and gone four games unbeaten, though, firstly recovering from that latest loss with a fourth league win of the season, beating Al Raed 2-0 away from home thanks to goals from Fashion Sakala and Faris Abdi.
They now head into Friday's test on the back of meetings with Al Khaleej, Al Riyadh and Al Wehda, sharing the points in goalless stalemates in each having seen out their second, third and fourth consecutive clean sheets.
Still sitting 14th but now four points above the bottom three, Al Fayha will aim to build on their recent defensive solidity and take a major scalp on Friday to extend their unbeaten run and move further clear of the drop zone.
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Their visitors, meanwhile, head to the King Abdullah Sport City Stadium aiming to get their title defence back on track after hitting a trickier run in recent weeks.
After winning the Saudi Pro League for the 19th time last time around without suffering a defeat, Al-Hilal began the new campaign in similarly dominant fashion, topping the table until early February after amassing 46 points from their first 18 games while only losing twice.
The Blue Waves have since added just five more points to that tally in five further attempts, though, firstly playing out back-to-back draws against Damac and Al Riyadh before suffering a 4-1 loss away at new leaders Al-Ittihad.
Jorge Jesus's side did manage to bounce back to winning ways in style at home to Al Kholood, as Malcom and Salem Al-Dawsari netted braces alongside a Marcos Leonardo goal, only to meet Al Ahli last Friday and again fall short in a 3-2 loss, with goals from Al-Dawsari and Leonardo not enough to earn a share of the spoils as Ivan Toney hit a hat-trick for the visitors.
Now on the back of an AFC Champions League defeat to Uzbek outfit Pakhtakor in the first leg of their round-of-16 tie, Al-Hilal will be desperate to end their slump on Friday and begin narrowing their six-point gap up to Al-Ittihad with a win on the road.
Team News
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Al Fayha should field a similar starting XI from last week's goalless draw, with Ziyad Al-Sahafi and Makhir Al-Rashidi bound to join Chris Smalling in a back three again following four straight clean sheets.
After missing their draw against Al Riyadh, Fashion Sakala returned to rejoin Renzo Lopez up front last time out, and they should again partner up in attack having netted seven and eight goals respectively so far this season.
Alejandro Pozuelo offers further attacking support, having contributed six goals of his own from midfield thus far, likely alongside Otabek Shukurov and Mansor Al-Beshe.
Al-Hilal will remain without star striker Aleksandar Mitrovic, who has been confined to the treatment room since early December, while defender Renan Lodi continues to miss out and Joao Cancelo could also be sidelined having missed their recent AFC Champions League contest after being forced off in their defeat to Al-Ahli.
In Mitrovic's absence, 21-year-old Marcos Leonardo has stepped up in attack, netting 15 goals in his last 12 Saudi Pro League appearances while only failing to score in one of those games.
He will continue to lead the line with support from the dangerous trio of Kaio Cesar, Salem Al-Dawsari and Malcom, while Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and Ruben Neves will again partner up in the midfield.
Al Fayha possible starting lineup:
Mosquera; Al-Sahafi, Smalling, Al-Rashidi; Al Baqaqi, Pozuelo, Shukurov, Al-Beshe, Abdi; Sakala, Lopez
Al-Hilal possible starting lineup:
Bono; K Al-Dawsari, Koulibaly, Al-Bulayhi, N Al-Dawsari; Neves, Milinkovic-Savic; Cesar, Malcom, S Al-Dawsari; Leonardo
We say: Al Fayha 0-1 Al-Hilal
Friday's test promises to be a tough one for an out-of-sorts Al-Hilal side, with the visitors having shown more resilience in recent weeks with four consecutive clean sheets.
We can only see the Blue Waves' quality shining through, though, even with several key players missing, and back them to come out on top in a low-scoring contest.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Sam Varley
