The featured match of the week for round 15 is between Al Arabi and Al Gharafa. The match will kick off this Saturday 20th of December at the Grand Hamad stadium.Both teams fortunes have changed of late, Al Arabi started their season off well but recent defeats saw their head coach Dan Petrescu sacked and replaced with Uruguayan José Daniel Carreño.
In the last round Al Arabi lost in a close game against Al Khor. Al Gharafa didn’t fare any better in the last round when they too lost to a tough Umm Salal side 4-3.
The Dream Team is currently in 10th place with 15 points. They have played 14, won just 3, drawn 6 and lost 5. Whilst Gharafa have won 7, drawn 2 and lost 5.
A worry for Gharafa will be the attacking threat of Pablo, Paulinho and Ezekiel who between them have scored 16 goals for Al Arabi.
For Gharafa their main players to watch out for include the two young Qataris, Abdulghani Morad and Moayad Fodhayli. As well as Nene who is the clubs top scorer with 7 goals from 12 games.
AL Gharafa has a goal difference of -2 whilst Al Arabi has a +1 difference; both teams have scored and conceded a similar amount of goals in the first half of the season.
Since 2004 the two teams have played 32 times and Gharafa has won 46% of the matches, whilst Al Arabi has only won 22%, the other 32% have been draws.
Back in August in the first half if the season, the fixture saw a draw as the game ended 2-2.
Match analysis
With both teams losing in the previous round, motivation won’t be a problem especially as this will be the last game before the one month break for the Asian Cup, both teams will therefore want to finish on a high.
Both teams have had a loss of confidence but Gharafa has more stability at their club as Arabi are still getting used to their new head coach who has yet to win a game.
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