Preview: Al-Nassr vs. Al Okhdood - prediction, team news, lineups

Saudi Pro League enactment is acceptable to resume aft the month-long December interruption this week with Al-Nassr taking connected Al Okhdood astatine Al-Awwal Park connected Thursday evening.

A mediocre extremity to 2024 saw the hosts gaffe to 4th spot successful the league standings, portion the visitors pulled 3 points wide of the driblet with a triumph successful their past league crippled of the year.

Match preview

© Imago

Al-Nassr volition beryllium looking to commencement 2025 positively aft suffering defeats to Al-Qadsiah and rubric challengers Al Ittihad successful 2 of their last 3 games up of the league interruption past month.

Against their PIF-owned rivals, Karim Benzema opened the scoring and Cristiano Ronaldo levelled proceedings 2 minutes aboriginal for Al-Alami, but it was Steven Bergwijn who got the victor for the People's Club successful stoppage time.

With those goals, the erstwhile Real Madrid onslaught partners took their league extremity tallies for the play to 10, 2 down Al-Hilal's Aleksandar Mitrovic, who presently leads the contention for the Golden Boot.

Those results besides saw the spread successful the league standings betwixt the Knights of Najd and the Blue Waves widen to 11 points, portion a decision to Al Saad connected matchday six successful the AFC Champions League Elite forced them into 3rd spot successful Group B.

However, Stefano Pioli's broadside are unsurprisingly massively fancied to instrumentality to winning ways this week, having beaten and scored 3 goals some location and distant against their upcoming opponents past season.

Meanwhile, Al Okhdood survived the driblet by the slenderest of margins past play and look apt to conflict astatine the bottommost extremity of the array again this word unless they tin find large betterment successful the New Year.

The Najran-based outfit person managed conscionable 12 points successful 13 games to day but pulled disconnected an fantabulous 3-2 triumph implicit chap relegation candidates Al Wehda connected the last matchday of 2024 to springiness themselves a three-point cushion supra the dotted line.

However, delivering accordant results has not been casual for Stjepan Tomas's side, arsenic they person ne'er managed to triumph back-to-back league games since earning promotion to the apical flight.

The 1 affirmative for the visitors, though, is they person fared amended connected the roadworthy than connected their location spot implicit the past fewer months, having taken 7 points from the past 12 connected connection (W2 D1 L1).

Al-Nassr Saudi Pro League form:

Al Okhdood Saudi Pro League form:

Team News

© Imago

Al-Nassr suffered a reasonably important stroke during the break, with Abdullah Al-Khaibari sustaining a musculus teardrop portion with the nationalist team, which is expected to support him sidelined for up to a month.

Al-Khaibari volition articulation longer-term absentees Sami Al-Najei (cruciate ligament) and Ayman Yahya (leg) connected the sidelines this week, portion Ronaldo is besides listed arsenic a uncertainty owing to an abdominal problem.

For the visitors, Cameroon planetary Christian Bassogog ended the twelvemonth strongly, netting 3 goals successful his past 5 matches, and helium should proceed to pb the enactment present alongside Ibrahima Kone.

Al Okhdood person a afloat acceptable squad for the travel to Riyadh this week, and fixed the awesome show they delivered past clip out, it would not travel arsenic a immense astonishment if Tomas fielded an unchanged 11.

Al-Nassr imaginable starting lineup:
Bento; Al Ghanam, Simakan, Laporte, Boushal; Al-Amri, Brozovic; Angelo, Otavio, Mane; Al-Shehri

We say: Al-Nassr 3-1 Al Okhdood

While Al-Nassr could beryllium without the services of their talisman and skipper this weekend, they inactive person much than capable firepower successful reserve, and we consciousness they should unafraid a reasonably straightforward triumph successful this match.

For information investigation of the astir apt results, scorelines and much for this lucifer please click here.

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