Al-Shabab vs Al-Ittihad. Will the new champions put on a goal show?

On Tuesday, May 20, the 33rd round match of the Saudi Arabian Championship between Al-Shabab and Al-Ittihad will take place at the Al-Shabab Stadium in Riyadh.

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

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

Al-Shabab

Fatih Terim's charges have already "booked" their finishing position in the 2024/25 season. The team will definitely finish the championship in 6th place, because the distance to 5th place is 7 points, and Al-Shabab is still 7 points ahead of 7th, which is mathematically impossible to win back in the two remaining rounds.

The team's task in the remaining two matches is to please the fans with bright football and work on tactical schemes with an eye on the next season, in which the club's management will certainly set more ambitious goals. After all, Al-Shabab's roster is quite high-level, and the 6th line in the table does not correspond to the level of players such as Yannick Ferreira-Carrasco, Giacomo Bonaventura, Georgy Bushchan and others.

Al-Ittihad

The team of head coach Laurent Blanc and the conductor of his ideas on the field – compatriot Karim Benzema, officially secured the championship title in the last round. Having beaten Al-Raed away with a score of 3:1, Al-Ittihad became unattainable for all of its pursuers led by Al-Hilal, who in theory can still catch up with the leader in the number of points scored, but are inferior to him in additional indicators, the main one of which, according to the regulations of the Saudi league, is personal meetings. And in them, Benzema and Co. were more convincing than their opponents.

By the way, Karim himself did not take part in the championship match due to injury. But even without their leader, Al-Ittihad managed to show character and respond to the opponent's goal with three effective attacks, which were completed by Steven Bergwijn, Danilo Pereira and Abdulrahman Al-Oboud.

Al-Ittihad became Saudi Arabian champions for the 10th time and now the team is preparing for the King's Cup final against Al-Qadisiyah, in which they will try to complete the "championship double".

Al-Shabab vs Al-Ittihad facts

• Al-Shabab have played 4 matches in a row with a total of over 3.5 goals;
• Al-Shabab are unbeaten in 5 home league matches in a row (5 wins and 1 draw);
• Al Ittihad have conceded in 10 consecutive Saudi League away games.

Odds from download 1xbet

In the bookmaker 1xbet, the favorite of this match is the Al-Shabab team, on whose victory you can bet with a coefficient of 2.24. Football fans can also use 1xbet freebets to bet on a draw with a coefficient of 3.90, or on the victory of Al-Ittihad with a coefficient of 2.75. Install the 1xbet app and place a bet on the favorite!

Game Totals Prediction

The odds that Al-Shabab are considered a slight favourite for the match are quite logical – Al-Ittihad no longer needs points, the team has the opportunity to play with a semi-reserve, saving its strength for the King’s Cup final, which is less than two weeks away. It is highly likely that we will not see Karim Benzema on the field, whose health is wiser to protect. Laurent Blanc will probably make other changes. Nevertheless, even with an experimental line-up, Al-Ittihad can play brightly and effectively, and the champion’s opponent, judging by the latest results, is not averse to putting on a show with a large number of goals. We suggest believing in this scenario – our forecast for Al-Shabab – Al-Ittihad is total over 3.5 with odds of 1.96.