Sports

Al-Hilal may win the Saudi Professional League title in this round, provided that it first beats Al-Ahly in a summit match on Wednesday, and then waits for the suffering of Al-Shabab and Al-Ittihad, as happened in the last two rounds.

There are 3 matches remaining for each of Al Hilal, Al Shabab and Al Ittihad, and Al Hilal leads the league with 52 points, 4 points behind Al Shabab, 5 points for Al Ittihad, as well as Al Taawon, which has only two games.

If Al-Hilal defeats Al-Ahly, and Al-Shabab loses the third match in a row when they face Al-Ain on Wednesday, and Al-Ittihad also fails to beat Abha on Thursday, then the leaders will ensure that they retain the title.

In the last round, the top three were affected by competition pressures and no team won.

Al-Hilal hopes that Abdullah Atif, Jang Hyun Soo and Muhammad Al-Burayk will recover in time before facing Al-Ahly, who was going through a bad period before ending a series of defeats.

Al-Ahly dropped out of the standings table and completely shied away from the competition, losing 7 in a row before narrowly winning (1-0) over Al-Qadisiyah last Friday, thanks to a penalty kick from striker Omar Al-Somah.

After this victory, Al-Ahly came in eighth place with 38 points, but despite the move away from the top positions, this match may affect the title struggle, or restore hope to Al-Shabab and Al-Ittihad.

Al-Shabab is suffering from an unexpected period of decline, as it collapsed in the past rounds and lost 4 times in 5 matches, reducing its hopes of winning the league title for the first time since the season (2011-2012).

As for Al-Ittihad, it drew 3 times in 4 matches, and needs a gift from its neighbor Al-Ahly, to revive hopes of winning the title for the first time since the 2008-2009 season.

The opportunity appears weak to cooperate in snatching the title, but it may be effective in this conflict as it faces Al Hilal next Sunday.