After a slow start to the 2023/24 Saudi Pro League season, Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr will look to make it three wins in a row when they take on newly promoted Al-Hazm at Al Hazm Club Stadium.
The Saudi Pro League returns with a fresh set of fixtures as Al-Hazm and a revitalised Al-Nassr go head-to-head in Ar Rass this Saturday. Both sides head into the weekend fresh off the back of contrasting recent results, and we anticipate a lopsided affair.
Al-Hazm enjoyed a stellar 2022/23 season as they finished third in the Saudi second tier to clinch an immediate return to the Saudi Pro League.
They were relegated to the second tier in the previous campaign when they picked up just 17 points from 30 league matches to finish rooted at the bottom of the table. And the hosts are in for another relegation battle this term, currently sitting in the dreaded bottom three, having collected just two points from their opening four matches.
While they will be looking to register their first win of the season this weekend, they face the challenge of an opposing side who are one of the star-studded ‘big four’ teams with their Saudi Public Investment Fund owning them.
The Knights of Najd fell to disappointing defeats in their first two league matches of the season, putting Cristiano Ronaldo and co. in an early hole in the title race, but since then, they’ve scored nine goals and conceded none across their last two matches, including a 4-0 win against Riyadh rivals Al-Shabab on Tuesday night.
Star striker Cristiano Ronaldo has bagged five goals in those victories, following up his hat-trick against Al-Fateh last time out with a brace at home against Al-Shabab. With confidence oozing through Luis Castro’s side, they will be looking to rack up wins from now on as they look to make up ground in the tightly contested title race at the top of the table.
Team News & Tactics
Al-Hazm
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تذاكر مباراة #الحزم و النصر متوفرة الآن😍لـ حجز التذكرة عبر الرابط 👇https://t.co/05ssRuuzH5
❤️💛💙#الحزم_النصر#دوري_روشن_السعودي | #yallaRSL pic.twitter.com/ReFkf1htaV
— نادي الحزم السعودي (@alhazem_fc) August 31, 2023
Al-Hazm manager Antonio Filipe de Sousa has no fresh injury concerns to contend with and can deploy a full-strength side to face Al-Nassr.
Following last week’s solid defensive display, Farhan Al-Aazmi, Abdulrahman Al-Dakheel, Bruno Viana, and Radhi Al-Otaibi should retain their roles in the back four, with Aymen Dahmen starting between the sticks once again.
Sousa can call upon the trio of Abdullah Al-Shammari, Ben Hassan Traore, Mohamed Al-Thani, and Basil Al-Sayyali in the middle of the park to provide added protection to the backline as well as try to come out on top in the midfield battle against a superior counterpart.
Both of Al-Hazm’s goals this term have come from Brazilian forward Vina, but they were not enough to help them get any wins. He will continue to spearhead the attack for the home side alongside Toze and will hope to nudge a winning goal this time around, although the likelihood of that seems rather remote against a team of Al-Nassr’s calibre.
Probable Lineup (4-4-2): Dahmen; Al-Oteibi, Viana, Al-Dakheel, Al-Aazmi; Al-Thani, Al-Sayyali, Traore, Al-Shammari,; Vina, Toze
Al-Nassr
Saturday 🔜 pic.twitter.com/iASLpL8cfp
— AlNassr FC (@AlNassrFC_EN) August 31, 2023
With left-back Alex Telles back to full fitness, Luis Castro’s only injury absentee for this match is goalkeeper David Ospina, who has been out since last season with an elbow injury and is unlikely to return in the near future. is recovering from the injury. So he will miss one more game.
Ahead of the game, Castro warned his opponents that the best from his side is yet to come, despite them already scoring goals for fun. Due to the quick turnaround between the games, the 61-year-old Portuguese manager will likely make a couple of changes to keep his side fresh.
Back-fit Telles could replace Ghislain Konan at left-back, while Anderson Talisca, who did not even make the squad against Al-Shabab just hours after publicly denying reports that he could leave the club this summer. Castro later dispelled any rumours of a transfer and confirmed that the Brazilian player would remain with Al Alami.
With the speculation behind him, the Brazilian attacker, if fit, could start here ahead of Abdulrahman Ghareeb, who unfortunately missed the penalty last time out.
The arrival of Portuguese midfielder Otavio seems to have provided Al-Nassr with the balance they needed. Sadio Mane, who took his league tally to four goals for the season in the last match, has already proven to be an exceptional strike partner to the legendary Cristiano Ronaldo, who has been in hot form with five goals and two assists in his last two outings.
Probable Lineup (4-2-3-1): Al-Aqidi; Al Ghannam, Al-Fatil, Laporte, Telles; Al Khaibari, Brozovic; Talisca, Otavio, Mane; Ronaldo
Key Stats
- The two sides have locked horns on 21 previous occasions, with Al Nassr being the more dominant side in this fixture (W13 D3 L5).
- The most recent meeting between the two was way back in June 2022 that saw Al Nassr clinch a comfy 4-1 away win.
- The hosts are yet to win a game this season, having lost two and played out two draws in the last two games.
- Cristiano Ronaldo is currently leading both the goal-scoring and assists charts in the Saudi Pro League.
- Al-Nassr have scored a whopping total of 13 goals in the last three games.
Player to Watch
Cristiano Ronaldo
The Saudi Pro League may have experienced a sharp increase in overall star power after their summer recruitment drive of European stars. But there is still one man who stands above all the rest — Cristiano Ronaldo.
Arguably the greatest goalscorer in the history of football, it should come as no surprise that even at the age of 38, he is absolutely tearing it up in the Middle East. The Al-Nassr captain, who four days previously struck a hat-trick against Al-Fateh, was at the centre of Nassr’s resounding Saudi Pro League derby victory at Mrsool Park on Tuesday night as he continued his recent hot streak with two goals and an assist against Al-Shabab.
The five-time Ballon d’Or winner looked set to claim a second consecutive hat-trick. But instead of taking a third penalty, he handed over the ball to winger Abdulrahman Ghareeb instead, with the winger yet to open his account this season. Ghareeb unluckily missed it. But it shows Ronaldo’s leadership skills. And in the form he is in, Al-Hazm better keep things tight at the back.
Prediction
Al-Hazm 0-3 Al-Nassr
The last three meetings between Al-Hazm and Al-Nassr have produced a combined ten goals, and we anticipate another goal-fest here. The visitors boast the firepower needed to make light work of this one-sided affair, and we are backing them to pick up where they left off on Tuesday.
One of five teams without a win yet, Al-Hazm have shown they have a fight in them, having drawn their last two games. But the sheer gap in quality between the two squads should tell on the day, with Cristiano Ronaldo & co. set to come away with a pretty straightforward three points from this one.
