Al Arabi continued their excellent form by defeating Al Ahli 1-0 in Week 13 of the 2020-21 season QNB Stars League at the Al Arabi Stadium on Friday.
Mohammed Salah El Neel netted the winner in the 20th minute as Al Arabi, coached by Heimir Hallgrimsson, registered their fourth successive victory, having beaten Al Kharaitiyat 3-1, Al Sailiya 1-0 and Al Khor 3-0 in Week 10, 11 and 12  respectively.

The Dream Team moved on to 18 points with their fifth victory overall.

Al Arabi thus extended their brilliant run starting from their good performance at the 2019-20 season Amir Cup final, which they narrowly lost to Al Sadd.

Nebojsa Jovovic-coached Al Ahli, who had beaten Al Wakrah 2-0 in Week 12, slipped from fourth to fifth position in the QNB Stars League standings as they stood on 22 points following their fifth loss.

The Brigadiers, who led the table initially this season, have their task cut out in their bid to end up among the top four.

The first part of first half saw attempts by Al Arabi’s Aron Gunnarsson as well as Sebastian Soria and Al Ahli’s Nabil El Zhar.

The only goal came through a move originated from Marc Muniesa in the midfield. He passed the ball to Mehrdad Mohammadi who, in turn, played Ahmed Fathy on before El Neel applied the finishing touch.

Al Ahli made a couple of substitutions at the start of second half even as Al Arabi adopted a cautious approach to safeguard the lead.

The Al Arabi defence, manned mainly by Algerian Ayoub Azzy, kept a clean sheet as they recorded yet another victory.

Al Ahli had beaten Al Arabi 2-0 in the first leg of 2020-21 season QNB Stars League.