Al Wasl’s awful results in the Arabian Gulf League will not “fool” defending champions Al Ain, according to defender Mohamed Ahmed.
A chasm of 14 points and nine places separate the joint leaders – along with Sharjah and Al Jazira – from Monday night’s relegation-threatened hosts at Zabeel Stadium. This represents a dramatic decline for the Cheetahs, who finished third last term.
“Al Wasl’s results this season will not fool us,” said Ahmed. “This is because they have excellent players in their squad, but they did not appear at their best during the league.
“In the Zayed Champions Cup, they played distinguished teams [Saudi Arabia’s Al Ittihad and Egypt’s Al Ahly] and fought to make the quarter-finals of the competition.
“We will be keen to deal with high concentration during our next game and I hope that we will win the three points, with all respect for the ambitions of the opposing team.
“Al Ain and Al Wasl are certainly the two biggest teams in the UAE and I believe that the presence of Al Ain’s supporters is an important motivation for the team to achieve strong results.”
The Boss’ charge to earn a fifth top-flight win in six matches has been hindered by the continued absences of UAE midfielders Amer Abdulrahman and Rayan Yaslam.
Wasl will hope that Caio Canedo is fit to feature. The Brazilian striker scored a superb long-range leveller in last week’s 1-1 draw at Sharjah for his seventh goal in 11 2018/19 AGL matches, but received a head knock.
إيماناً بدور الجماهير، فقد أطلقت إدارة النادي مبادرة #المدرج_الأصفر والمتمثلة في دخول المشجعين الذين يرتدون قميص الفريق الأساسي الذي أنتجته شركة نيو بالانس مدرجات الدرجة الثانية بشكل مجاني طوال مباريات الفريق المحلية هذا الموسم، رغبة في خلق مدرج أصفر في مباريات الفريق في زعبيل. pic.twitter.com/FJ1f2rlCM1
— Al Wasl SC (@AlWaslSC) December 2, 2018
Meanwhile, coach Fabio Viviani has told his Ittihad Kalba charges they must not take anything for granted when they look to arrest their slump against bottom-placed Dibba Al Fujairah.
The yo-yo club’s seven-match winless run has seen them drop down to ninth in the table, just four points above the relegation zone. This is a better state of affairs than the sorry visitors to Ittihad Kalba Stadium, who have won just one of their 11 fixtures.
“We have a strong and difficult game against Dibba,” said ex-AC Milan midfielder Viviani.
“Most teams in the league are close in both points and levels of performance. The game will not be as easy as some think.
“We should focus on the game and not pay attention to the difference in the table.”
The night’s final match sees Al Wahda’s temporary boss Al Hay Juma look to continue his winning start when undefeated Sharjah come to the capital.
Juma beat Ajman 2-1 last week in his first match since Laurentiu Reghecampf was dismissed after five winless matches.
