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Saudi Pro League – Al-Taawoun vs. Al-Nassr: Al-Nassr, who have won five straight games across all competitions, will take against Al-Taawoun on Saturday at King Abdullah Sports City Stadium to round out 2023.
Al Dhiaab is now nine points behind Al-Nassr in second place in the Saudi Pro League standings going into this matchup.
Last weekend, they lost 3-1 to Al-Fateh, which dropped them to fourth place. On Boxing Day, the league runners-up from the previous season, Al-Ittihad, were defeated 5-2.
Al-Taawoun had been moving up the rankings all month long till they lost for the first time this December last week.
This squad is currently in contention for one of the top three slots, behind Al-Ahli Saudi by just three points for third place. They have lost out on a spot in the AFC Champions League Elite in two of the last three top-flight campaigns.
Al-Taawoun had won their first six domestic home games before suffering two losses in their past three league games at King Abdullah Sports City Stadium.
After 18 games in this competition, Pericles Chamusca has led them to 34 points, which is three more than they had at this time in the previous campaign.
Under the Brazilian’s leadership, this team has let up the second-fewest goals in the Saudi Pro League this year (18). They have also kept three clean sheets at Buraidah and have allowed a goal or less in all but one of their home games in this league.
They’ve won 2-0 away from home against Al-Nassr in their last three encounters in this tournament, holding their formidable offence off the board in two of those games.
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This week, Al-Nassr’s winning ways were maintained by yet another impressive second half display. The visitors scored three goals in the second half to secure their fourth straight victory in league action.
Luis Castro’s message seems to be getting through to his players since in the last three meetings, Al-Nassr has outscored its opponents by a total of 7-2 in the last 45 minutes.
Following a 2-1 loss in their league debut away from home against Al-Ettifaq, they have emerged victorious in seven of their previous eight top-flight away games.
Although they have improved their game recently, the Riyadh team has lost four points when leading at the half this season and is now seven points behind Al-Hilal in the league standings.
One of the things that separates them from Al-Hilal is their patchy defence; thus season, the league leaders have only allowed nine goals domestically, while Al-Nassr have allowed 22 goals.
In this competition, Al-Nassr has suffered two losses in their last three road games against Al-Taawoun. Their one win at King Abdullah Sports City Stadium came in the 2021–2022 season (1-0).
Al-Taawoun Saudi Pro League form:
L L W W W L
Al-Nassr Saudi Pro League form:
W W L W W W
Al-Nassr form (all competitions):
D L D W W W
On matchdays 17 and 18, there was one new player in the Al-Taawoun starting lineup: Fahad Al-Abdulrazzaq, who replaced Mutah Faqeehi last Saturday.
A week earlier, in a defeat against Al-Fateh, Joao Pedro scored the sole goal for this team—his eighth goal of the domestic season.
This week, Nawaf Boushal was absent from another Al-Nassr match, and Castro started the same lineup on Boxing Day as he did in their 3-1 triumph over Al-Ettifaq.
Talisca scored for the eleventh time domestically this season, and Sadio Mane added a brace in the last 15 minutes to give the former Liverpool and Bayern Munich forward eight goals for his new team.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice from the penalty spot against Al-Ittihad, putting him three goals ahead of Aleksandar Mitrovic in the Golden Boot race.
Al-Taawoun possible starting lineup:
Mailson; Al-Oyayari, Girotto, Al-Salui, Faqeehi; Medeiros, El Mahdioui, Medran; Barrow, Pedro, Castro
Al-Nassr possible starting lineup:
Al-Aqidi; Al-Ghannam, Al-Amri, Laporte, Telles; Fofana, Brozovic; Talisca, Otavio, Mane; Ronaldo
Our prediction for this match 2-0 or 3-1 won by Al-Nassr
