Al Raed-Al Hilal is a match of the third day of the Saudi Pro League and is played on Thursday at 8 pm: TV, streaming, formations, predictions.
Al-Hilal is one of the four biggies in the Saudi top league that spared no expense this summer, putting its money where its mouth is and acquiring top champions from Europe.
One of the latest has been Brazilian Neymar: the former Psg player arrived in Riyadh last week, welcomed with pomp and circumstance by the fans, but to make his contribution to the team coached by Jorge Jesus he will have to wait at least a month because of an ankle injury that has been plaguing him since February. He is not the only one of the new signings stuck in the infirmary. He will also have it for a couple of weeks for former Napoli and Chelsea defender Kalidou Koulibaly, who was injured during the Arab Cup final played (and lost) against arch-rivals Al-Nassr last Aug. 12. Al-Hilal thus comes with a few too many absences to the challenge with Al-Raed, valid for the third day of the championship. Milinkovic-Savic and his teammates are not part of the small group of teams that are on full points after the first 180′. In the opener they beat Abha 3-1 thanks to a hat trick from a wild Malcom but a week ago they did not go beyond a draw against Al-Fayha despite 90′ of almost total domination (20 total shots and 76 percent ball possession). Meanwhile, to solve the center forward problem, Serbian striker Aleksandar Mitrovic arrived from England, the second purchase in a matter of days after Bounou.
Al-Hilal without Neymar and Koulibaly
Complicated start of the season instead for Al-Raed, momentarily last in the standings with zero points along with Al-Nassr, Al-Khaleej and Al-Hazem.
Mitrovic, new purchase of Al-Hilal
The men of Igor Jovicevic – a coach who coached Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr in the latter part of last season – are the only ones who have not scored a single goal, losing 3-0 to Benzema and Kanté’s Al-Ittihad in the opener and to Abha last Saturday. Al-Hilal certainly does not stir good memories: they have lost to them 14 times in their last sixteen matches, with an overall score of 35-11 in favor of the emblazoned Riyadh club.
The Prediction
Only the poor scoring streak of its strikers prevented Al-Hilal from taking the full stake on the last day against Al-Fayha. But Jorge Jesus’ team is expected to make up for it against a (so far) disastrous Al-Raed, despite excellent absences. Al-Hilal is likely to score two to four goals in this away match.
The probable lineups of Al Raed-Al Hilal
- AL-RAED (4-4-2): Moreira; Al-Jayzani, Gonzalez, Al-Fahad, Al-Sobeai; Al-Dossary, Al-Beshe, Loum, Sunbul; Tavares, Al-Ghamdi.
- AL-HILAL (4-2-3-1): Al-Maiouf; Al-Berik, Jahfali, Al-Bulaihi, N. Al-Dawsari; Milinkovic-Savic, Ruben Neves; Michael, S. Al-Dawsari, Malcom; Al-Hamdam.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 0-2
