Preview: Al-Nassr vs Al Kholood – prediction, team news

Sports Mole previews Sunday’s Saudi Pro League clash between Al-Nassr and Al Kholood, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.Fresh off the back of an outstanding display in their curtain-raiser, Saudi Pro League giants Al-Nassr will seek to make it two wins from two when Al Kholood come visiting on Sunday.Unlike their hosts, the visitors came away empty-handed from their opening fixture of the season and will head to the King Saud University Stadium aiming to return to winning ways.Match previewSix days after suffering the heartbreak of a penalty shootout defeat in the Saudi Super Cup final to Al Ahli, Al-Nassr laid down an early title marker as they hit Al-Taawoun for five on August 29.Joao Felix continued his fine start to life in Riyadh with a hat-trick either side of quickfire strikes from Cristiano Ronaldo and Kingsley Coman at the start of the second period.Felix has since gone on to register for Portugal on international duty to take his tally to six goals in five matches so far, and he could be the missing piece of the jigsaw for Jorge Jesus’s men in their quest for domestic glory.Albeit only on goal difference, Al-Nassr lead the way in the Saudi Pro League ahead of this weekend’s encounter against an opposing side without a win from the previous two meetings.The Knights of Najd will be aiming to put on a show in their first home outing of the campaign three days before kicking off their AFC Champions League Two journey against Istiklol.Having lost six straight league matches between March 14 and May 2, Al Kholood were in danger of being sucked into a relegation scrap as last season drew towards its end, but the team from Al-Qassim won three of their final four matches to steer well clear of the drop zone.However, Noureddine Zekri was subsequently relieved of his duties as manager nine months after his appointment, with Des Buckingham getting the nod to take charge of proceedings.With no pre-season matches to transmit his style of play as much as he would have liked, Buckingham would have been fairly pleased by Fakhr Ar Rass’ display in their 2-1 defeat to Al-Ettifaq in round one.John Buckley’s debut goal looked set to earn Al Kholood a hard-fought point heading into the final half hour of the contest, during which Georginio Wijnaldum grabbed the winner.Following their recent disappointment in Dammam, Sunday’s visitors have now suffered defeat in nine of their last 10 away outings since January 20 and have it all to do if they are to pull off a huge upset against vastly more illustrious opponents this weekend.Al-Nassr Saudi Pro League form:W Al-Nassr form (all competitions):WLW Al Kholood Saudi Pro League form:L Team NewsMidfielder Haroune Camara will be expected to make his Al-Nassr debut this weekend after joining from Al Shabab in a £2.9m deal.Otavio and Aymeric Laporte are unavailable for the hosts, having recently completed moves to Al Quadisiya and Athletic Bilbao respectively.Bento missed the win over Al Taawoun but is back in contention to feature, which should see Nawaf Al Aqidi make way in the XI.Al Kholood’s Myziane Maolida has directly contributed to five goals in his last seven matches for club and country, making him one to keep an eye on.Hattan Bahebri came off injured against Al-Ettifaq last time out and is a huge doubt to feature for the away side here.Al-Nassr possible starting lineup:Bento; Yahya, Martinez, Simakan, Boushal; Brozovic, Felix, Angelo; Mane, Ronaldo, ComanAl Kholood possible starting lineup:Cozzani; Shehri, Gyomber, Troost-Ekong, Al-Asmari; Buckley, N’Doram; Maolida, Khalifah, Al-Aliwa; SawanWe say: Al-Nassr 4-1 Al KholoodWith the firepower on display for Al-Nassr, anything less than a routine win here would be deemed an underperformance.We are fully backing the hosts to make light work of their visitors and come away with maximum points in the end.For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.ID:581381:1false2false3false: from db desktop :LenBod:collect8043:No Data Analysis infoPreviews by emailClick here to get Sports Mole’s daily email of previews and predictions for every major game!