SPL day 18 preview – Derbies Round and bottom struggles

On Thursday, the 18th week of the Saudi Professional League, which lasts for 4 days (Thursday – Friday – Saturday, Sunday), which witnesses exciting conflicts at the summit level, begins on Thursday, as during that round a derby will be held in Jeddah (Al-Ahli vs Al-Ittihad) and another derby in The city of Riyadh (Al-Shabab VS Al-Nassr).

The clubs competing in that round are trying to improve their position on a schedule, some of them are trying to escape the relegation struggle, and some of them are trying to break the dominance of Al-Hilal and Al-Nassr over the league title for nearly 8 years (except for Al-Ahli 2016) and continue to catch the lead.

The following gives a brief look and a review of the position of each team in the ranking table:

Thursday, February 11, 2021

Al-Ittifaq VS Abha

Al-Ittifaq team will be required to return to its momentum and regain the path of victories after it lost it in the last round against the bottom-ranked Al Ain team, and Al-Ettifaq, who is ranked seventh with 24 points, seeks to restore its consideration after defeating the first round in the third week in front of Abha with two to three goals, while the team seeks Abha to continue his positive results this season, which made him far from the relegation struggle, as he ranks eighth with 24 points – the same balance as his opponent in the 18th round – and Abha seeks to continue his surprises after he achieved the most prominent surprise in the last round by defeating Al-Hilal team in Riyadh by three goals to two.

Al Ahli VS Al Ittihad

The summit of the round matches is the most famous derby in the west of the Kingdom, which brings Al-Ahly together with its counterpart Al-Ittihad, and every team seeks to hold on to the leading positions and disrupt its other competitor on the path to achieving the title, Al-Ahli enters the confrontation in third place with 33 points – goal difference from Al-Hilal, who is in second place – and it seeks to continue The competition for the title as well as regaining its dominance over Jeddah Derby after losing that hegemony that lasted 8 years in the face of the first round of the current season, where Al-Ittihad achieved an impressive victory with two goals to nil, while Al-Ittihad, which presents its best season in nearly 5 years, seeks to emphasize His current awakening and victory in the derby in the first round is not just a coincidence, and Al-Ittihad ranks fourth with a point, 7 points behind the leading Al-Shabab team.

Friday, February 12, 2021

Al-Faisaly VS Al-Wehdah

In Friday’s confrontations, Al-Faisali team seeks to build on its first victory, which it achieved in the last round 3 months ago. Al-Wehda team is trying to regain the victories road that it has been absent from since the first day of 2021, Al-Wehda is in 10th place with 21 points, and the first round confrontation ended with Al-Faisali defeating his opponent Al-Wahda stadium with two goals to one.

Al-Raed VS Al-Batin

One of the confrontations of the relegation struggle that brings together Al-Raed team with its guest Al-Batin team, Al-Raed’s team occupies 12th place with 19 points, two points difference from the rival Al-Batin team, which occupies the 14th position, the last of the positions leading to the delegation with 17 points, the first round confrontation ended with the victory of Al-Batin over Al-Raed with two goals to one.

Saturday 13 February 2021

Al Taawon VS Al Qadisiyah

Al-Taawon team is trying to regain its balance and achieve its first victory in three rounds after losing the last round against Al-Nassr and tied in the first round of the second round against Al-Faisali, and Al-Taawon occupies sixth place with 25 points. Al-Qadisiyah team ranks 9th with 22 points, and it has not achieved victory in the last 5 rounds, satisfied with the result of a draw in all of them. The confrontation of the first round ended with the superiority of the Qadisiyah team with a goal to nil.

Al-Fath vs Al-Ain

Al-Fateh team receives its bottom-of-the-line counterpart Al Ain in one of the games of the Bottom Struggle, Al Fateh is seeking to achieve its second victory only since the beginning of this year after it tied in 3 matches and lost in three other matches in the last 6 rounds, occupying the 13th place with 19 points, while Al Ain team is at the bottom Ranking with 13 points.

Al-Nassr VS Al-Shabab

Marsool Park Stadium is hosting one of the summits matches in the 18th week of the Professional League, when Al Nassr hosts Al-Shabab team, in a meeting shared by a common factor between the two teams, which is that both of them did not taste the loss in the league championship in 2021 (next to the Qadisiyah team) ), Al-Nassr team hopes to continue its positive results, which it started since the departure of its former coach Rui Vitoria, which is the team that has achieved the most victories since the beginning of this year, Al-Nassr ranks fifth with 25, while Al-Shabab team seeks to achieve its fourth successive victory and is the one who tops the competition table with 35 points, two points difference About the closest pursuers, Al Hilal, and the first round confrontation ended with the victory of Al-Shabab team, with two goals to one.

Sunday 14 February 2021

Damak VS Al-Hilal

The conclusion of those round matches in which – the defending champion and second-placed holder in the current season – will play Al-Hilal team as a heavy guest over the penultimate team Damak in a theoretically unequal confrontation, but on the field, the situation will be different, as Al-Hilal is not living his best days, precisely. Since winning the King’s Cup last year, since then Al Hilal has not known the taste of victories more than he knew the taste of draws and defeats, and Al Hilal seeks to build on his victory in the last match in front of Al Ain with a clean five that returned him to the runner-up position with 33 points, two points behind the leaders of Al-Shabab team, while trying Damak, who is ranked 15th with a score of 13, will have a share of the surprises of this season by creating a new surprise by defeating Al Hilal, as Al Wahda and Abha did with Al Hilal this season.