A charged-up Al Gharafa will host Al Sadd in what promises to be an absorbing fixture in Week 14 of the QNB Stars League on Thursday. The kick-off is at 18:40.

Al Gharafa have a new-found vigour and their confidence is at the highest this season for many reasons, while Al Sadd are also on a high.

Al Gharafa are sixth with 17 points and have completed back-to-back victories in the second phase. They resumed their campaign after the month-long winter break under Bulent Uygun, who replaced Frenchman Jean Fernandez. And the Turk instantly succeeded in instilling confidence in the players, whose morale was low when they finished seventh after the first phase.

The Cheetahs were so inconsistent in their performance that they could win only two matches in the opening half of the season. Read it against their 100 per cent win record just two games into the second phase!

New recruit Wesley Sneijder got into the scoring act last week in their 4-2 victory over Umm Salal. And Iranian Mehdi Taremi is to make his debut in Qatar against Al Sadd.

Al Gharafa have a strong squad also consisting of Diogo Amado and Almahdi Ali as well as youngsters Othman Al Yahri, Ahmed Alaaeldin and Amro Seraj.

Al Sadd, who beat Al Sailiya 6-0 last week to stay second in the standings, are likely to miss injured striker Baghdad Bounedjah, who sat out the first three matches in this season’s league and is missing in action since their loss to Al Duhail in Week 10, for this game as well.

However, Portuguese coach Jesualdo Ferreira played down his absence.

“With Baghdad, we drew, lost and won. Without him, we have to play in a different way. This does not belittle his abilities, but I won’t cry over his absence. I will always look for solutions. I wish he returns healthy and 100 per cent fit to play, in order to help us in the upcoming matches which will be difficult,” he added.

The Wolves’ ace players are Algerian attacking midfielder Jugurtha Hamroun, who struck two goals against Al Sailiya, captain Xavi (Hernandez), Morteza Pouraliganji, Hassan Al Haydous and Abdulkarim Hassan.