Riding a five-match winning run in all competitions, Al-Nassr will end 2023 by visiting King Abdullah Sports City Stadium to battle Al-Taawoun on Saturday.
Heading into this encounter, Al Dhiaab sit fourth in the Saudi Pro League table, losing 3-1 to Al-Fateh last weekend, putting them nine points behind Al-Nassr for second, with the league runners-up from a season ago defeating Al-Ittihad 5-2 on Boxing Day.
Match preview
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Throughout the month, Al-Taawoun had been steadily progressing up the standings before suffering their first defeat of December last week.
This team have narrowly missed out on a spot in the AFC Champions League Elite in two of the past three top-flight campaigns, and they are in contention for one of those top-three spots at the moment, trailing Al-Ahli Saudi by just three points for third.
After going unbeaten in their opening six domestic home fixtures, Al-Taawoun have lost twice in their last three league contests at King Abdullah Sports City Stadium.
Pericles Chamusca has guided them to 34 points after 18 matches in this competition, three more points than they had at this stage of the previous campaign.
With the Brazilian in charge, this team have conceded the second-fewest goals in the Saudi Pro League this season (18), allowing a goal or fewer in all but one of their home games in this competition while posting three clean sheets in Buraidah.
They have managed to keep a potent Al-Nassr attack off the scoresheet in two of their last three meetings in this competition, including a 2-0 away triumph against them on matchday two.
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Another strong second-half performance kept Al-Nassr's winning ways intact this week, with the visitors netting three times in the second half to earn a fourth successive triumph in league play.
Whatever Luis Castro says to his players at the half, his message resonates, with Al-Nassr outscoring their opponents by a combined margin of 7-2 in the final 45 minutes of their last three encounters.
Since losing their opening away fixture in the league this season at Al-Ettifaq (2-1), they have come away with all three points in seven of their last eight top-flight games as the visiting team.
While they have done a much better job at finishing games lately, the club from Riyadh have squandered four points when leading at the half this season, trailing Al-Hilal by seven points in the race for the league title.
Their inconsistent defending is one of the things separating them from Al-Hilal, with the league leaders conceding just nine times domestically this season, while Al-Nassr have given up 22 goals thus far.
Al-Nassr have lost two of their last three away matches versus Al-Taawoun in this competition, with their previous victory at King Abdullah Sports City Stadium occurring during the 2021-22 campaign (1-0).
Team News
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There was one newcomer in the Al-Taawoun starting 11 from matchday 17 to 18, with Fahad Al-Abdulrazzaq coming into the fold last Saturday instead of Mutah Faqeehi.
Joao Pedro had the only goal for this team in a losing effort versus Al-Fateh a week ago, his eighth strike of the domestic campaign.
Nawaf Boushal missed another encounter for Al-Nassr this week, while Castro went with the same starting 11 on Boxing Day that he had in their 3-1 victory over Al-Ettifaq.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice from the penalty spot against Al-Ittihad, putting him three ahead of Aleksandar Mitrovic in the Golden Boot race, Talisca netted for the 11th time domestically this season and Sadio Mane notched a brace in the final 15 minutes, giving the ex-Liverpool and Bayern Munich forward eight for his new team.
Al-Taawoun possible starting lineup:
Mailson; Al-Oyayari, Girotto, Al-Salui, Faqeehi; Medeiros, El Mahdioui, Medran; Barrow, Pedro, Castro
Al-Nassr possible starting lineup:
Al-Aqidi; Al-Ghannam, Al-Amri, Laporte, Telles; Fofana, Brozovic; Talisca, Otavio, Mane; Ronaldo
We say: Al-Taawoun 1-2 Al-Nassr
Al-Nassr look like a different team than the one Al-Taawoun faced on matchday two, and given how sharp they have been up front lately, it is difficult to envision the home side keeping them quiet for 90 minutes on Friday.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Joel Lefevre
