As released by AGL website, Matchweek 10 of the Arabian Gulf League will see a race for top spot and the winter champion tag as Al Wasl, Al Ain and Al Wahda attempt to win their respective games to lock the top spot one matchweek before the end of the first round. The other teams are looking to improve their positions ahead of the second half of the season. This week’s matches will be played on Thursday and Friday.
Al Wasl, who sits currently at top spot, have an important game away from home against Hatta at 16:40 on Thursday, where a win accompanied by the failure to win for both Al Ain and Al Wahda will guarantee them the winter champion tag for this season. Hatta, who have won their last game, want to continue their rise into higher spots.
The second game of the day will be Ajman against Al Wahda at the Rashid bin Saeed Stadium on Thursday. Third placed Al Wahda with 19 points are looking to get their 22nd point of the season so they can overtake Al Wasl should they drop points, while Ajman are in ninth place with eight points and a win could move them away from the relegation zone.
In the third match of Thursday, Sharjah face defending champions Al Jazira at 19:30 at the Khaled bin Mohammed Stadium, in what is now considered a mid-table clash after Al Jazira’s poor start to the season which sees them have 13 points in sixth place. Sharjah, on the other hand, are behind them in eighth place with nine points.
Friday’s matches see Shabab Al Ahli host Al Dhafra in a tough match for the Dubai side as they have failed to win in any of their last five games, drawing all of them and now sitting in fourth place with 14 points only, away from the top spot by eight points. Al Dhafra wants to get back to winning ways after losing to Hatta 5-2 at home last week.
Emirates go back to their home stadium at 16:40 on Friday when they host Dibba just after losing 3-1 to Al Jazira and currently occupy last place with four points, meanwhile Dibba are looking to follow up their positive results which led them to seventh place with ten points, drawing with Shabab Al Ahli and Al Ain in the last few rounds.
The final game of the matchweek pits Al Nasr against Al Ain at Khalifa bin Zayed Stadium in Al Ain at 19:30, where the home side will be looking to steal the top spot from Al Wasl before the end of the first round. They failed to do so when they dropped points to Dibba last week away from home. Al Nasr, meanwhile, in fifth place with 14 points, comes into the game off the back of a draw with Shabab Al Ahli