Al Rayyan coach Michael Laudrup spoke to the media ahead of their QNB Stars League Week 13 match against Al Kharaitiyat.

“We’ve made a strong start to the second phase of the league and that is very important from our point of view. We will try to extend the winning run. I expect Al Kharaitiyat to play like how Al Khor did against us last week — play a waiting game and then counter-attack.

“Fortunately, Al Khor did not score and once we settled down, we had no problem. It is always better to focus on the next game on hand for the simple reason that if you look beyond too much, you tend to overlook what lies just in front of you.

“Al Kharaitiyat can come on us really hard as they had suffered a defeat and badly need some points. When lower teams play top sides, they will be extra motivated. That’s why every game is tough. That happens across the world, not just in Qatar. Take the case of Al Markhiya, who were at the bottom, holding Al Sadd goalless in the previous round. 

“We are a bit careful regarding injuries to players. I didn’t want to aggravate (Abderrazaq) Hamdallah’s injury as we will be playing every three to five days from the start of February till mid-March,” said Laudrup.