Round 16 of the 2023-24 Saudi Pro League season sees Al-Hilal play host to Al Wahda at the Prince Faisal bin Fahd Stadium on Friday evening.
Both sides head into this one off the back of emphatic victories in their most recent outings and will be looking to pick up where they left off.
Match preview
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Al-Hilal secured safe passage into the semi-finals of the King Cup thanks to a comprehensive 3-0 triumph over Al Taawoun on Monday afternoon.
Jorge Jesus's men edged ahead on the stroke of half time through Michael before second-half goals from Aleksandar Mitrovic and Malcolm put the result to bed.
Prior to that, the Blue Waves claimed a narrow 2-1 win against Al Taee to maintain their seven-point lead over Al-Nassr at the top of the Saudi Pro League table.
Coming up next is the challenge of an opposing outfit who have only managed to come out on top in one of the last 24 editions of this fixture.
Currently on a run of nine home victories on the bounce across all competitions, Friday's hosts have been in imperious form on their own patch of late and will definitely take some stopping here.
Al Wahda fended off the threat of Al Akhdoud in Saturday's meeting between the sides at the King Abdul Aziz Stadium, which ended in a 2-0 win.
Giorgos Donis's men opened the scoring after 15 minutes through Abdulaziz Noor before Oscar Duarte sealed the deal in the final knockings of normal time.
With 22 points picked up from 16 matches so far, the Knights of Mecca currently sit ninth in the standings and are now nine points clear of relegation danger.
Having let in 13 goals across their last five matches away from home, Friday's visitors will need to keep things tight at the back to stand any chance of avoiding yet another defeat on the road.
Team News
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Al-Hilal's Neymar remains sidelined with a torn anterior cruciate ligament, and the Brazilian is still a long way off making his return to action.
Following his strike against Al Taawoun, Aleksandar Mitrovic has now netted five times in his last six matches for the hosts, making him one to keep an eye on.
Ruben Neves had to make do with a second-half cameo in the aforementioned game, but the midfielder is expected to earn a recall to the starting lineup for this one.
Twenty-one-year-old Islam Hawsawi is eligible to feature once again after serving a one-game suspension in Al Wahda's win over Al Akhdoud.
Twenty-nine-year-old Abdullah Al Bukhari is likely to drop out of the visitors' XI off the back of a rare starting appearance last time out.
Al-Hilal possible starting lineup:
Bono; Al Burayk, Tambakti, Koulibaly, Abdulhamid; Al Faraj, Neves, Milinkovic-Savic; Malcolm, Mitrovic, Al Dawsari
Al Wahda possible starting lineup:
Munir; Al Muwallad, El Yamiq, Duarte, Hawsawi; Anselmo, Bakshween, Fajr; Goodwin, Ighalo, Noor
We say: Al-Hilal 3-0 Al Wahda
Al-Hilal's home form heading into Friday's clash makes the hosts strong favourites to get the job done here, and we can see them living up to expectations in emphatic fashion come the end of the 90 minutes.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
