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Newly promoted Al-Hazm began their new Saudi Pro League season with a 1-3 away defeat vs Al-Ahli. The highly ambitious Al-Ettifaq on the other hand began their Steven Gerrard reign with a 2-1 win vs Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al Nassr. Here are all the latest team news from both camps and our Al-Hazm vs Al-Ettifaq predicted lineups.
Contents
The game is scheduled for Friday, August 18th and will be played at Ar-Rass Stadium in Rass. The kick-off time is 18:00 GMT. Now, let’s look at all the team news and also at our Al-Hazm vs Al-Ettifaq predicted lineups.
Al-Hazm vs Al-Ettifaq Predicted Lineups and News
Before we go into more details regarding the Abha vs Al-Hilal possible lineups we’ll give you the latest team news for each team and what that means for their overall strength. And if you can’t make it to the stadium don’t worry, you can always enjoy all the action on TV.
Team news: Al-Hazm
Al-Hazm got promoted to the top flight after spending only one year in the lower division. The team’s limited finances mean that they can’t be one of the big spenders. Still, under their Portuguese coach Filipe Gouveia Al-Hazm won 20 out of 34 games in the Second Tier last term and the confidence is high.
In round 1 Al-Hazm failed to contain Roberto Firmino and the Brazilian’s hat-trick saw Al-Ahli win 3-1 at home vs Al-Hazm. The display was not all bad though. Vina led the attack well and he was very dangerous in that first match.
Mohammed Al-Thain looks set to start on the left flank now with Ben Traore injured in the first game and ruled out as a result. This could be the only change to the starting lineup.
Al-Hazm Predicted Lineups (5-3-2):
Aymen Dahmen – Al Shammari, Al Mhemaid, Al-Absi, Tanker, Al-Oteibi – Toze, Al-Thain, Al-Sayyali – Al-Shammari, Vina
Team news: Al-Ettifaq
Al-Ettifaq brought the Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard to be their new manager as the club began aggressive investment in top talent from Europe. One of Gerrard’s first signings was his ex-Liverpool teammate Jordan Henderson, who has also become Al-Ettifaq’s new captain. So, the English feeling in the middle of the Saudi desert is pretty strong and Al-Ettifaq have big targets this season.
Anyone fancy a cuppa? 🏴 ☕#Ettifaq pic.twitter.com/4uXCSdHe24
— Ettifaq Club (@Ettifaq_EN) July 27, 2023
Al-Ettifaq showed they will be serious players in the race for the top 3 positions with their 2-1 away win vs Al-Nassr in round 1. Ettifaq came from behind to claim this win, with their cause admittingly helped by the fact that CR7 was missing injured.
Al-Ettifaq are likely to use the same starting lineup with the latest high-profile signing Dembele set to lead the front 3. Henderson will be pulling the strings in midfield while the heart of the defence is well protected by the duo Tissenard-Hendry.
Al-Ettifaq Predicted Lineups (4-3-3):
Victor – Yousef, Tisserand, Hendry, Khateeb – Al-Ghamdi, Henderson, Hazazi – Al-Ghamdi, Dembele, Quaison
Will Ben Traore play for Al-Hazm?
The explosive winger Ben Traore started the first game of the season. However, he got badly hurt in that match and the news is not so good for him. Traore is set to miss the next 3 to 4 weeks so he won’t be available for selection this weekend.
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