Al Arabi coach Heimir Hallgrimsson spoke to the media ahead of their 2020-21 season QNB Stars League Week 12 match against Al Khor.

“It is an important and difficult match for us. We are playing against a good team who is also looking to win and collect the three points. But we are motivated to win against Al Khor.

“We benefited a lot from playing in the Amir Cup final last month. That big match helped our players develop character. The real gain was our young players getting experience in the final matches and they will benefit from this experience. For sure, their improvement will be really good.

“We gained a lot of experience during the last period of the league as the players performed well despite the shortage of time to recover from injuries. But we were able to perform well. The more matches the team participates in, the better we get.

“Currently, I am happy with the team’s overall development. As I say often, every coach aspires to attract good players, but I repeat, I’m happy with what the team offers at the time. If a new player comes, then he must be better than the current players.

“Abdullah Al Marafi will be absent for more than three weeks and Jassim Jaber suffers from a slight bruise. He will be absent from the next match. Unlike injured Khalifa Al Maliki, the rest of the players are fully prepared for action. The players have gained many experiences as they played in the presence of many injuries. They are now ready to play all the matches,” said Hallgrimsson.

Al Arabi player Ayoub Azzi said, I have confidence in Al Arabi's ability to achieve victory in this important match against Al Khor. We must focus and work on implementing the technical plan that the technical staff will put in place in order to come out with full match points and achieve the third victory in a row. We are in a position that does not suit us as we have to win and improve our position on the points table.”