Lekhwiya take on newly promoted Muaither in the first match of the QSL season for both teams. The match will take place at the Lekhwiya stadium this Saturday.
 
Lekhwiya who are fresh of a win against Al Rayyan in the Sheikh Jassim Cup will be looking to continue their winning start of the football season with a victory against Muaither.
 
Djamel Belmadi, the head coach of Lekhwiya is looking forward to a tough season ahead, “Four teams will be relegated this season which means that the league will be very tough. There will no small games and big games all the matches will be difficult and we will prepare ourselves.”
 
“Muaither is a good team coming from the second division. They have signed new players and we as Lekhwiya we will use our tools and our experience to face such teams,” added the Algerian head coach at press conference held on Thursday afternoon.
 
Speaking about the Sheikh Jassim Cup victory against Al Rayyan, Belmadi added, “It was such a good game with a huge number of national team players playing and it was important to win it especially when a trophy is on the line.”
 


Muaither return to the QSL for a second stint after winning the Qatar Gas League. They will be looking to make a good impression in their first match against QSL powerhouse Lekhwiya.
 
Phillip Birol, head coach of Muaither, wants his team to give Lekhwiya a tough time, “We are ready to begin the league against a big favorite for the QSL. We want to give a tough time to them and if they are better than us we will see on the day.”
 
Speaking about the expectations for his team this season, Birol added that, “It will be a big achievement if we stay in the league and we know that all the teams that come from the second league have a huge difficulty to stay up. Last year only 2 clubs got relegated but this year is four so it will be a very tough season for us.”