Lekhwiya take on Al Arabi in round five of the QSL. The match will take place at the Lekhwiya stadium today evening.
Lekhwiya have ten points from four games and sit second in the table. The Cops are one of the title favourites this year and they will be aiming for the three points against Al Arabi.
Talking at a press conference ahead of their match, Lekhwiya coach Djamel Belmadi said, “Al Arabi started this season with great ambition and they have great players. If you saw their game against El Jaish and Al Ahli, you could say that they could have at least two more points because they could have drawn those games.”
Speaking about last week’s game against Al Wakrah, Belmadi said, “Last game we conceded two goals. I wish we do not concede goals like that. I wish we had a clean sheet and we are working on that. We have an attacking style and sometimes that leaves the defence vulnerable and we need to work on the right balance.”
The Algerian added: “I’m working on fixing conceded goals. We are looking to find the balance between defending and attacking. If you analyse goal by goal, there are goals we can avoid and those we cannot. We conceded two goals to penalties which I don’t believe were penalties.”
Al Arabi has six points from four games and currently sit seventh in the table. They will look to get some points off Lekhwiya as they bid to make it into the top four.
Gerardo Pelusso, head coach of Al Arabi, said, “All matches are important and we admit we didn’t have a good game against Al Ahli. We are prepared for a good performance against Lekhwiya and to get the three points.”
“We don’t play any game without thinking of the three points. Of course each game has its own situation some are tactical some are physical. Lekhwiya are a great team, they have many players in the national team and it will be a difficult game,” added the Uruguayan coach at the press conference on Wednesday.
Speaking about tactical difficulties, Pelusso said, “We have some issues in the team we have to fix. Some players have not played for a long time and their performance reflected that. So we need more work harder to achieve our goals.”
Lekhwiya’s head-to-head record against Al Arabi is much better with the Cops winning six of their 12 encounters and four matches ending in a draw. Arabi has won twice.
Lekhwiya has scored 30 out of 46 goals scored in these 12 matches, with no match ending in a goalless draw, while Arabi has scored the remaining 16 goals.
Both of Arabi’s wins came in the 2015-16 season.