The pressure is on for embattled Al Ain coach Pedro Emanuel when his charges visit leaders Sharjah in the Arabian Gulf League.
\nThe depleted Boss were battered 4-1 by resurgent Shabab Al Ahli Dubai Club in match-week 15, a result which pushed them down to a distant sixth and intensified debate about the former Porto defender\u2019s future. Hope will abound about a possible, belated, debut for headline winter addition Shoya Nakajima.
\nSaturday\u2019s opponents witnessed momentum checked last weekend with a 1-1 draw at Al Wahda and will be determined to get back to winning ways now their advantage has been cut to three points.
\nFifth-placed Shabab Al Ahli\u2019s cause was boosted in mid-week by the addition of 2016 AFC Player of the Year Omar Abdulrahman on a free transfer. But the celebrated 29-year-old is not expected to be fit to continue their seven-match winning run, in all competitions, at seventh-placed Wahda.
\nThe day\u2019s other games contain a basement clash between Hatta and Ajman, plus third-placed Bani Yas travelling to mid-table Khor Fakkan.
\nA Bur Dubai derby between Al Nasr and Al Wasl leads the way on Sunday, UAE icon Ali Mabkhout is fresh off a hat-trick for the trip to Arabian Gulf Cup semi-finalists Ittihad Kalba and second-bottom Fujairah could escape the relegation zone with victory against an Al Dhafra who\u2019ll be without suspended returning club legend Makhete Diop and goalkeeper Khalid Al Senani.
\nMATCH-WEEK 16 FIXTURES
\nSaturday
\n17:30 Shabab Al Ahli Dubai Club v Al Wahda
\n17:30 Khor Fakkan v Bani Yas
\n20:15 Hatta v Ajman
\n20:15 Sharjah v Al Ain
\nSunday
\n17:30 Ittihad Kalba v Al Jazira
\n17:30 Fujairah v Al Dhafra
\n20:15 Al Nasr v Al Wasl<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The pressure is on for embattled Al Ain coach Pedro Emanuel when his charges visit leaders Sharjah in the Arabian Gulf League.
\nThe depleted Boss were battered 4-1 by resurgent Shabab Al Ahli Dubai Club in match-week 15, a result which pushed them down to a distant sixth and intensified debate about the former Porto defender\u2019s future. Hope will abound about a possible, belated, debut for headline winter addition Shoya Nakajima.
\nSaturday\u2019s opponents witnessed momentum checked last weekend with a 1-1 draw at Al Wahda and will be determined to get back to winning ways now their advantage has been cut to three points.
\nFifth-placed Shabab Al Ahli\u2019s cause was boosted in mid-week by the addition of 2016 AFC Player of the Year Omar Abdulrahman on a free transfer. But the celebrated 29-year-old is not expected to be fit to continue their seven-match winning run, in all competitions, at seventh-placed Wahda.
\nThe day\u2019s other games contain a basement clash between Hatta and Ajman, plus third-placed Bani Yas travelling to mid-table Khor Fakkan.
\nA Bur Dubai derby between Al Nasr and Al Wasl leads the way on Sunday, UAE icon Ali Mabkhout is fresh off a hat-trick for the trip to Arabian Gulf Cup semi-finalists Ittihad Kalba and second-bottom Fujairah could escape the relegation zone with victory against an Al Dhafra who\u2019ll be without suspended returning club legend Makhete Diop and goalkeeper Khalid Al Senani.
\nMATCH-WEEK 16 FIXTURES
\nSaturday
\n17:30 Shabab Al Ahli Dubai Club v Al Wahda
\n17:30 Khor Fakkan v Bani Yas
\n20:15 Hatta v Ajman
\n20:15 Sharjah v Al Ain
\nSunday
\n17:30 Ittihad Kalba v Al Jazira
\n17:30 Fujairah v Al Dhafra
\n20:15 Al Nasr v Al Wasl<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33781"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33781"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33781\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33782,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33781\/revisions\/33782"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}