Al Arabi assistant coach Alexanderson spoke to the media ahead of their 2020-21 season QNB Stars League Week 17 match against Al Sadd.

“We will definitely miss the presence of coach Heimir Hallgrimsson (who is sick). We have prepared as usual and this is a good opportunity for the players to show their skills and also to shine and show their love for the group and the team.

“We try to maintain the same rhythm as happened in the past weeks. Therefore, there will not be major changes to the team, but it will be evident in the absence of the coach, whom we will certainly miss and we hope he returns quickly to the team.

“We have been putting up good performances of late. In my opinion, we are very good defensively and we co-ordinate well collectively. We always try to improve our performance and know our strengths and weaknesses.

“Playing against Al Sadd will not be easy as they have outstanding players. They are the best in the league and closest to winning the title, and we know their strengths as well, so it will be a great match.

“If we continue to believe in our strengths and maintain our focus, we can defeat any team. We need to focus on ourselves,” said Alexanderson.

Al Arabi goalkeeper Loukay Sherif said, “Everyone is fully prepared and we are moving at a steady pace. We know the difficulty of the Al Sadd match, but we are well prepared through training and our spirit is high. We are optimistic.

“All league matches are strong tests for us, not just the Al Sadd match. But beating them is not impossible. On the pitch, there are 11 players against 11 players. Nothing is impossible in football and if we play our game with high spirit, we will achieve a positive result.”