Al Arabi Head Coach Gianfranco Zola
“It's good to be in this position. We are coming from three wins. For me the crucial game was against Qatar SC. Psychologically, it was a difficult game for us. In football when you win two games, it's easy to think that you are good. And you don't prepare well. When you play against teams that are coming from a loss, you can see the motivation in them. Now we are playing Gharafa. They are a good team. My players will be ready for this game. We have had less time to prepare for this game as compared to the last one but I am confident that my players will be ready for this game.”
 
“We brought Dame Traore and we know he's a good player. It's a long season and so we can accommodate him. Players like Dame can come in and do a job. It's a nice situation to be in as a coach. During the season, players can have highs and lows and even injuries. So to have players who can come in and keep up the standard of the team is always a good thing. We will keep rotating players because we need to maintain the high standards, especially in this weather.”
 
I think we are a good team and we are getting better and better. But there are teams that are already ahead of us. We want to be more competitive and we will be so this year. But honestly winning the title is not in the programme. I don't want to put more pressure on the players. I don’t want to create false expectations. We will do much better than what we did last year. But whether we will win the title or not, I am not sure.”
 
 
Arabi Captain:  Khoukhi Boualem
“Our coach has shown us the strong points of Gharafa and we will work hard to get the win.
A lot of things have changed in the team since last season, beginning with the coach. He has brought in a new philosophy. He gave more motivation and confidence to the players. Last season we played without team spirit and now we have that.”
 
 
 
 
Al Gharafa Head Coach Pericles Chamusca
“This game will be a tough game. It's a special game for Arabi. It's my birthday this week. I turn 50. So I am looking forward to a birthday gift from my players. I hope our team puts in the same performances like we did in the last games. If we show the same attitude, we should have a good game and win.”
 
“It will be very difficult for Dioko to play in this game. He suffered a hamstring injury in the last game. We are hoping that he might come back after the break during the middle of October.”
 
“My focus is on our preparation. Our first game wasn't good. In the second game we played with team spirit. It was a collective effort. Our team has new players. So we will need time to extract the best performance from this team. “
 
 
Gharafa Forward Yassine Chikhaoui
“This game will be a test for us to see where we are at the moment as compared to other teams. We need more cohesion. It's an important game for us. We hope that we can get a positive result. The most important thing for me is that my team should get good results. And for that there's no magic, only hard work. And that’s why we have to be work to be ready. We might need a little more time but together we can achieve our objectives.”