Al-Feiha vs Al-Ittihad: Will Benzema's team get closer to the title?

On Saturday, January 11, the match of the fourteenth round of the Saudi Arabian Championship between the teams Al-Faiha and Al-Ittihad will take place at the King Abdullah Stadium in the city of Buraydah.

• Expert Predictions Analysis
• Al-Feiha vs Al-Ittihad facts
• Odds
• Game Totals Prediction

Our Expert Predictions & Analysis on Al-Feiha vs Al-Ittihad

Al-Feiha

The charges of Portuguese specialist Pedro Emmanuel have serious problems. Al-Faihy has not won a championship since the end of September, and it is not surprising that with such results the team is dragging at the tail end of the tournament table - the penultimate 17th place with 8 points scored in 13 rounds. And this is a team that finished in the top ten last season, and also recently played in the Asian Champions League .

There are plenty of arguments for the head coach to be fired, although Pedro Emmanuel also has arguments in his own defense. First of all, a series of injuries, and in particular, that of Nigerian Henry Onyekuru, who has not played since the very beginning of the campaign.

The second reason for optimism until recently was Al-Faiha's performance in the country's cup, but last week the team was knocked out of this tournament at the quarter-final stage, losing to Al-Shabab (1:2).

Al-Ittihad

An incredible transformation. This is how you can briefly describe what has happened to Al-Ittihad this season since the arrival of French coach Laurent Blanc. After a failure in the previous campaign, the team from Jeddah is “tearing up” on all fronts, and has a real chance of winning the “treble” of the Saudi League championship, the country’s cup and victory in the Asian Champions League.

Al-Ittihad have not lost since September last year, and began the new calendar year with a loud “statement” of their ambitions, eliminating last year’s winner and also the current champion of the country, Al-Hilal, in the King’s Cup (2:2 and 3:1 on penalties).

In the championship, Karim Benzema and company have broken away from the same Al-Hilal by two points, despite the defeat in the face-to-face match (the same one in September, which was written about above). And when we say: "Benzema and company", we do so with full right. After all, Karim, unlike the example of last season, in the current one simply "drags" the team along, becoming its real leader.

The Frenchman has blossomed under Blanc's leadership - already 12 goals in 12 matches in all tournaments, and even 2 assists to boot.

Al-Feiha vs Al-Ittihad facts

• Al-Faiha have not won in the championship for 8 rounds in a row (4 draws, 4 losses);
• Al-Ittihad have won 9 games in a row in the Saudi League;
• Al-Ittihad have kept a clean sheet in three consecutive away league matches.

Odds from download 1xbet

In the bookmaker 1xbet, the favorite of this match is predictably considered to be the Al-Ittihad team, on whose victory you can bet with a coefficient of 1.38. A bet on a draw in this meeting can be made for 5.06, and on the victory of the home team - the Al-Fayhi football players, the bookmaker offers a coefficient of 6.75. Download 1xbet to your phone and place a bet on the favorite!

Game Totals Prediction

There is a huge gap between these rivals in terms of game quality, self-confidence, squad level and other factors. Therefore, without much hesitation, we recommend Al-Ittihad's victory with a handicap of (-1.5) for a coefficient of 1.99 as the optimal bet for this match. You can also consider options with different individual totals of the visiting team.