Al Raed face the daunting task of travelling to the fortress that is the Kingdom Arena to take on Al-Hilal in the Saudi Pro League on Saturday afternoon.
The hosts will enter this match in second place in the league standings, trailing league leaders Al Ittihad by two points, while the visitors are in 10th place with 14 points.
Match preview
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Al-Hilal returned from the November international break with a shocking defeat on the road against Al Khaleej, who mounted an incredible second-half comeback to overturn a two-goal deficit and come away with a 3-2 victory.
That result saw the Blue Waves forced to relinquish the top spot in the league for the first time this season to Al Ittihad, and they followed that up with another underwhelming performance, drawing 1-1 with Al Sadd in the AFC Champions League Elite three days later.
An almost unthinkable third straight match without victory seemed to be on the cards when Jorge Jesus's side went a goal and a man down to Al Shabab at the end of last month, but Sergej Milinkovic-Savic stepped up in a big way, netting a second-half brace to spare the side's blushes.
However, the Blue Waves seemed to return to business as usual in midweek when they smashed three without response against Al Gharafa, with Milinkovic-Savic and his compatriot Aleksandar Mitrovic both finding the net after a Marcos Leonardo opener early in the match.
For Al-Hilal, the task at hand now is to continue winning matches to keep the pressure on Al Ittihad, who have a challenging fixture at home to Cristiano Ronaldo's Al-Nassr on Friday evening.
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Meanwhile, Al Raed have struggled to string together a positive run of results over the first third of the season and come into this match following their sixth defeat of the campaign, losing 1-0 at home to Al Taawoun.
That loss was Raed Al Tahadi's third in their last four games either side of a 3-1 victory over newly promoted Al Orubah, and they also failed to score in any of those defeats while conceding eight.
On the road this season, Odair Hellmann's side have played six league games to date and have managed seven points by way of two wins and a draw, though they have lost the last two leading up to this one.
Unfortunately for the visitors, their chances of getting back in the win column this week seem unlikely when looking at their record in this fixture, as they have failed to beat Al-Hilal in their last 18 attempts dating back to April 2015.
Additionally, they have been outscored 42-12 during their winless run against the Blue Waves, who have also not tasted defeat at this venue in 28 consecutive league games, with the last 21 ending in victory.
Team News
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After sustaining a hamstring injury just a couple of weeks after returning from a year-long absence, Neymar is expected to be nearing a comeback but will only be eligible to feature in the league competition next year.
Ruben Neves has now missed 17 matches due to a patellar tendon rupture and reports in recent weeks suggest that the Portuguese midfielder is only expected to return to first-team action at the end of January.
Kalidou Koulibaly is suspended as he was the player sent off last week against Al Shabab, which should see Hassan Tambakti take his place in central defence alongside Ali Al-Bulayhi.
Al Raed have just one known injury absentee for this match in the form of right-winger Mohammed Fouzair, who suffered a cruciate ligament tear at the end of October and is facing a lengthy spell on the sidelines.
Karim El Berkaoui scored both goals in the side's last victory against Al Orubah, which took his tally to four for the season, and he will likely be joined in the attack by Saleh Al-Amri, who has six goal contributions in 12 games to date.
Al-Hilal possible starting lineup:
Bounou; Cancelo, Tambakti, Al-Bulayhi, Renan Lodi; Milinkovic-Savic, N. Al Dawsari; Malcom, Marcos Leonardo, S. Al Dawsari; Mitrovic
Al Raed possible starting lineup:
Moreira; Al Dossary, Al Jayzani, Gonzalez, Qasmi, Al Hawsawi; Sayoud, Abeid, Normann, Al Amri; El Berkaoui
We say: Al-Hilal 3-1 Al Raed
While Al-Hilal have experienced an unusual dip in form since the November international break, their record at home is still incredible and they have not lost to this opponent in almost a decade.
Additionally, Al Raed's away form this season does little to inspire confidence in their chances of pulling off an upset here, so we are going for the hosts to secure a fairly comfortable victory.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Devesh Jaganath
