Round one of the 2023 Saudi Pro League season sees Al Tai entertain the challenge of Damac at the Prince Abdul Aziz bin Musa'ed Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Both teams could only manage mid-table finishes during the last campaign, and they will be looking to enjoy an improved display this time around.
Match preview
Al Tai drew the curtain on pre-season duty with a comeback 2-1 victory over United Arab Emirates side Ittihad Kalba two Thursdays ago.
Kresimir Rezic's men fell behind to Filip Kiss's strike before quickfire goals from Rakan Al Shamlan and Bernard Mensah turned the game on its head.
That brought an end to a seven-game losing streak for Faris Al Shamal since they ran out 2-1 winners against Al Feiha in the first week of May.
Up next for them is the task of facing off against an opposing outfit who have come out on top in each of the last four editions of this fixture after failing to win any of the previous five encounters prior to that.
Having recently returned to winning ways in front of their fans, Saturday's hosts will now be looking to make it back to back wins on home turf for the first time in over three months.
Damac were on the receiving end of a 2-1 defeat against Spanish lower league side Real Murcia when the teams faced off at Estadio Nueva Condomina on July 22.
Cosmin Contra's men trailed early on to Iker Guarrotxena's opener and fell further behind to Hector Marcos's effort before Hassan Al Shamrani pulled one back late on.
As a result, the Knights of the South have now won just one of their last four matches either side of May's season finale against Al-Shabab.
Currently on a run of eight goals conceded across three matches on the road leading up to this weekend, Saturday's visitors will be wary of being brutally undone defensively away from home once again.
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Team News
Abdulaziz Al-Shahrani was on target in the most recent edition of Saturday's fixture, and he will be aiming to come up trumps for Damac once again.
New arrival Noor Al Rashidi is expected to retain his place in the starting lineup having made his debut for the away side last time out.
Following moves to Al Raed and Muaither SC respectively, Al Tai will be without last season joint-top scorers Amir Sayoud and Guy Mbenza.
Brought in to fill the goalscoring void left by the aforementioned duo is Virgil Misidjan, who reached double digits for goals for the first since 2018 during the last campaign.
Al Tai possible starting lineup:
Braga; Tareq, Robert, Qasim, Roco; Abdulaziz, Bajandouh, Mensah, Semedo; Misidjan, Al Shamlan
Damac possible starting lineup:
Al-Mahasneh; Al-Hawsawi, Al Rashidi, Bedrane; Al Ammar, Al-Shahrani, Maher, Makeen, Munshi; Al Bishi, Antolic
We say: Al Tai 2-1 Damac
Both teams have struggled for clean sheets of late, and we cannot see that changing this weekend. We are tipping the home side to just about get the job done and secure maximum points at the end of the 90 minutes.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Adepoju Marvellous
