Emirates Club boss Nizar Mahrous has faith his “cautious and focused” troops will hold their nerve during a stressful final day as they look to guarantee survival in the Arabian Gulf League.
The Syrian’s side sit in the second and final relegation-play-off spot, two points off 10th-placed Al Dhafra. To extinguish any threat of their five-season run in the top flight being ended next month by First Division League’s Al Hamriyah, they must defeat 2019 AFC Champions League-chasing Al Nasr on Sunday and hope the Western Knights do not spoil Al Ain’s title party.
“We’re waiting on Al Dhafra to learn about our survival,” said Mahrous, who last month was both dismissed by bottom-placed Hatta and then hired by Emirates.
“We are cautious and focused on our mission. We’ve redoubled our efforts to get through this difficult phase.”
A pair of play-offs are set to be played on May 9 and 13 to facilitate the AGL’s return to 14 teams for 2018/19. The bottom two in the top flight will face the third and fourth-placed finishers in the FDL, whose top two of Bani Yas and Ittihad Kalba have already gained automatic promotion.
The other tie is between AGL wooden-spoon holders Hatta and Diego Maradona-less Fujairah.
At the other end of the table, Nasr hold slim hopes of usurping Bur Dubai rivals Al Wasl in the race for third.
A six-game winning streak that followed the decision to rehire coach Ivan Jovanovic was abruptly ended by last Saturday’s 4-0 thumping by Al Ain. This result leaves the fourth-placed Blue Wave two points in arrears, although the Serbian is refusing to give up hope.
He said: “We will play for the win to regain third place, while Emirates Club will also enter the game in search of the win and nothing else to try to preserve their chances of staying up.”
