The QNB Stars League’s Week 9 fixtures on Saturday are Al Kharaitiyat vs Al Ahli (16:00), Umm Salal vs Qatar SC (16:00) and Al Rayyan vs Al Gharafa (18:10). Host teams are mentioned first.

Al Kharaitiyat vs Al Ahli

Al Kharaitiyat will look to restore their pride, dented after crashing to a huge defeat against leaders Al Duhail in Week 8, when they host Al Ahli at the Al Khor Stadium. In the process, they slipped from seventh to ninth in the standings as they stayed on six points.

Moroccan striker Rachid Tiberkanine, who has so far scored six goals, leads their challenge as they seek their second victory, with Tunisian coach Ahmad Al Ajlani desperate to make a turnaround.

Al Ahli, on the other hand, are on a high, having achieved their second win in Tunisian coach Nassif Al Bayawi’s first match in charge to be on eight points. Spanish coach Joaquin Capaross will just hope his professional players come good.

Umm Salal vs Qatar SC

Umm Salal, fifth with 13 points, are coming off two successive defeats and will be keen to get their campaign back on track, having been out of the top-four bracket. The Orange Fortress should have it easy against bottom side Qatar SC (three points) at the Al Gharafa Stadium.

Umm Salal will miss the services suspended midfielder Adel Alawi, who had picked up his fourth yellow card during their match against Al Sadd last week.

Meanwhile, Qatar SC’s Nigerian striker Michael Babatunde will return to action after serving a one-match suspension.

Al Rayyan vs Al Gharafa

Third-placed Al Rayyan, on 21 points as Al Sadd, have shown consistency in their performance even though they slipped by one place in the standings on goal difference last week. On the other hand, Al Gharafa are consistently inconsistent to be on seven points.

Al Gharafa even held a marauding Al Duhail, but lost big-time to Al Kharaitiyat and had to play out a draw with promoted team Al Markhiya. They are the team with the most number of draws (four) in the tournament.

“I’m happy and satisfied with Al Rayyan’s superiority in the Week 8 match against Al Arabi. We’re in third spot, but that’s no problem for us. I say that because Al Rayyan are playing attacking football which is good,” Al Rayyan coach Michael Laudrup said.

Al Rayyan will miss young midfielder Ahmed Al Saadi, who is out for the rest of this season after undergoing an operation for cruciate ligament repair at Qatar’s orthopaedic and sports medicine hospital Aspetar. He suffered the injury during their 2-0 victory against Qatar SC in Week 7.

The refurbished Khalifa International Stadium is the match venue.