Lekhwiya coach Djamel Belmadi (left) and El Jaish coach Sabri Lamouchi during the pre-match press conferences held yesterday. PICTURES: Othman Khalid

By Sports Reporter/Doha

The highlight of Qatar Stars League’s Round 6 that takes place today will be the match between El Jaish and Lekhwiya. This is the first big-four clash this season and it promises to be a high-intensity affair. In the other matches Mesaimeer, looking for their first win in this league will face Kharaitiyat who have now suffered three losses and one draw in their last four matches. The third clash is between Al Wakrah who have just one victory to show for in their five matches so far and Al Gharafa who lost their first game this season in Round 5 against Jaish.
Here are what the coaches had to say during the pre-match press conferences.

Jaish vs Lekhwiya
El Jaish coach Sabri Lamouchi
It’s going to be a difficult game. I am happy to play games like this against Lekhwiya. We are playing the champions and one of the best teams in Qatar. They have good players who have been together for a long time. For sure the game will be difficult. We know that we are playing against a team that’s playing for the title. It doesn’t matter which 11 players take to the field for Lekhwiya, it will be a difficult match for us.
To win three games in five games can’t be called unstable results. We have stability. I don’t think that Jaish started a season before without any defeat in five games. I am happy with the performance of my team. Stability of performance is alright but not so in results. No absences for this game.

Lekhwiya coach Djamel Belmadi
We are going to play a big game against Jaish. I can see that this season the league has become more exciting. At least six teams are doing very good this season. This was not the case in the last two seasons. This is good sign for everybody. After our last loss we want to win, to have a strong reaction. And it’s good that we have this opportunity against Jaish.
I would like to point out that every club has 1-2 players in the national team. Sadd have 4-5 players away for the break. But I had 10-11 players who were away. So they could have been tired. It’s not just about the individual players but the team as a whole dropped in performance.
We were not nervous. We dropped our level and played in a different way as compared to way we play. And it’s important for me to know why we did that. It’s always tough to play against Jaish. But I prefer to play against Jaish after our loss than against any smaller team.

Mesaimeer vs Kharatiyat
Mesaimeer coach Rodion Gacanin
I believe that we are playing the level of football that we can be satisfied with. We had chances to score in the last match but we didn’t convert them. We haven’t had the results until now and now we need to raise our game and get that win under our belt. If we continue to play like how we did in the last few matches and we are able to score then we get the points.
In the last few matches we have had the same problem - individual quality in attack. We had 14 shots and three on target in the game against Umm Salal. We need to convert those chances and that’s what we need to work on. Again, I hope that we will be able to do better in this match.
Al Kharatiyat coach Amar Osim                       
We can say after five rounds that it’s not difficult to say that the league will be tougher this year, much tougher than last year. Last year we had two teams who were promoted. But they struggled through the season. Even though at some stage Shahaniya came back and were able to fight for relegation. This year it’s going to be much tougher.
Mesaimeer will be a tough team to play tomorrow even though they have no points and haven’t scored any goals. In their five games so far they look stronger than the promoted teams who played last year. But still they haven’t been able to score. Mesaimeer look more solid than those teams. So that speaks of the quality of the league this season.
I feel it’s just a matter of time when they score and get points. For us the goal in this match is to postpone this for them for at least one game.

Wakrah vs Gharafa
Al Wakrah Coach Jose Mauricio
Wakrah are always used to fighting to save themselves from relegation. As I said before Wakrah have deeper problems. And also don’t forget that the players in my squad haven’t been brought in by me. And we have also had some injuries during crucial matches. We have played just five games, we have 21 left.
We have the ambition to change the situation. There’s only one secret. And that is to work seriously every day and try to give our maximum to make the team better.

Al Gharafa Coach Pericles Chamusca
The loss in the last game makes it important for us to bounce back. The mental aspect is crucial.  
We have to come back with good football in the next game. I am expecting a good performance and a win.
In this season only Rayyan haven’t lost a match so far. We beat Arabi who beat Lekhiwya. In the end it’s a matter of points. It will be impossible to find a team that will win all games. We want to take points but I confirm that our first target is the top 4 and we will do our best to get there, remember that we have a game in hand.

Today’s Fixtures
Al Wakrah vs Al Gharafa
5:30pm at Lekhwiya Stadium.

Meisameer vs Al Kharaitiyat
5:30pm at Al Arabi Stadium

El Jaish vs Lekhwiya
7:45pm at Lekhwiya stadium.