Al Khor Stadium
The 17th Round of the Qatar Stars League (QSL) season will begin today with three out of four teams battling it out to stay out of the ‘Danger Zone’.
Opening the day’s proceedings, Al Kharaitiyat will meet Al Khor at Al Khor Stadium at 4.25pm today.
Al Khor are currently placed at the ninth position in the QSL points table, having won four games out of 16 to collect 16 points. On the other hand, Al Kharaitiyat are just one point behind them, having won the same amount of matches as Al Khor have.
Despite the seemingly unimpressive run during the initial stage of this season’s league, Al Kharaitiyat bounced back, winning three of their last five games. The three wins were against Muaither SC (1-0), Al Gharafa (2-0) and Al Wakrah (2-1) and it is reasonable to say that this strong comeback has saved them from dropping into the relegation zone.
Al Kharaitiyat head coach Ahmad Al Ajlani understands the importance of collecting full points at today’s game.
“We are playing a direct relegation rival, and it’s a six pointer for both teams. We have prepared the team well this week and everyone knows that this will be a big battle against Al Khor on Friday,” Al Ajlani said during a press conference held at Al Khor Stadium yesterday.
Al Ajlani insisted that points are the focus of his side. “We have made progress, in recent weeks. The important thing is that we need points to go up the table. In these situations, good performances don’t mean anything unless we don’t get any points.”
On the other hand, Al Khor managed to keep strong El Jaish outfit at bay in their last outing with a nil-all draw.
The Knights have only lost once in their last five QSL games and will be aiming to keep rolling with their impressive run to keep themselves away from the relegation zone.
Al Khor’s French coach Jean Fernandez said: “We are facing a Al Kharaitiyat side in good shape at the moment. Anwar Diba has developed into the leader. They have two new professionals and I believe they are now complete in attack. We know how Al Kharaitiyat play, and our aim is to score more and beat this rival.”
Later, at the At Hamad Bin khalifeh Stadium, Al Sailiyah will play against Umm Salal.
Al Sailiyah are currently in the relegation zone in 11th place, with 15 points.
During the pre-match press conference, their assistant coach Amine Farikh stressed that a win is needed to improve the moral of his side, following their 4-0 defeat to Al Rayyan last time out.
“Each game is getting more and more important as the league comes to an end. After the defeat to Al Rayyan we are looking for a much better performance against Umm Salal."
"We are trying to close the gap on Umm Salal who are two points ahead of us. Only a win can improve our fortunes.”
Umm Salal are currently occupying the sixth place in the QSL standings and will be targeting a win despite having a number of key player absent for today’s game.
