Arabian Gulf League matchweek 7 roundup
Al Sharjah maintained their spot at the top of the standings, while Dibba were unable to extricate themselves from the bottom of the table at the end of matchweek 7 of the Arabian Gulf League.
The King maintained their unbeaten streak and retained their top spot with 17 points, while Al Ain moved up to second place, swapping places with Al Jazira who now sit third on 15 points. Al Wahda and Shabab Al Ahli retained their fourth and fifth spots, respectively.
Down at the other end of the table, Dibba stayed rock bottom on three points, with Emirates Club occupying the other spot in the relegation zone with four points.
In the middle of the table, Fujairah moved to sixth place on 11 points, one above Kalba who slipped to seventh spot, while Al Dhafra are now eighth on nine points. Bani Yas, Al Wasl, Al Nasr and Ajman are all tied on seven points, occupying the nine-through-12 spots.
Five of the seven clashes that took place over Wednesday, Thursday and Friday ended with a winner, with the hosts winning four encounters and the visitors emerging victorious on one occasion only.
The gameweek 7 action got underway on Wednesday when Shabab Al Ahli earned a hard-fought 3-2 victory over Al Wasl. On Thursday, Al Dhafra defeated Emirates Club 2-0 to extend their winning streak to three games, before Kalba held Al Jazira to a 1-1 draw in the evening game.
Fujairah kicked off the final day of matchweek 7 with a 2-1 come-from-behind win over Dibba in the derby, before Al Ain earned a 3-0 away win over Ajman in a game that remained goalless until the final 10 minutes. Later on Thursday, Sharjah returned to winning ways after settling for draws in the past two encounters as they defeated Bani Yas 2-1 to open a one-point gap with second-placed Al Ain. Al Nasr concluded the action, forcing a 2-2 draw on Al Wahda.
A total of 22 goals were scored in matchweek 7 with an average of 3.1 goals per match. No match ended goalless, with Ajman and Emirates Club being the only two teams who failed to find the back of the net.
Brazilian forward Welliton Soares maintained his place at the top of goalscoring charts with eight goals after scoring for Sharjah against Bani Yas. Meanwhile, Al Wahda’s Sebastian Tagliabue and Mourad Batna and Fujairah’s Mohamed Benyettou are all tied on seven goals.
Sharjah and Al Ain boast the best defensive records in the league, as they conceded seven goals each so far. Meanwhile, Emirates Club have the worst record, having conceded 17 goals in seven gameweeks. Fourth-placed Al Wahda hold the best attacking record with 23 goals, while Dibba and Ajman have the worst offensive records, having scored seven goals each.
