Arabian Gulf League matchweek 10 roundup
Sharjah, Al Jazira and Al Ain maintained their top positions respectively, while Emirates Club and Dibba remained at the bottom of the table at the end of mathcweek 10 of the Arabian Gulf League.
The King were 3-0 up against Dibba who tried to pull off a comeback in the dying minutes of the games at Fujairah Stadium on Friday. The Sailors scored two penalty kicks during injury time but they weren’t enough as the guests won 3-2 to reach the 24th point and keep the two-point lead over Al Jazira and Al Ain.
Meanwhile, Dibba continued to struggle as they suffered their eighth loss this season to remain rockbottom on four points. The Sailors will also miss the services of striker Yaseen Al Bakhit who was sent off after a dangerous challenge on Otabek Shukurov.
Al Jazira maintained their second spot after a hard-fought 2-1 win over Al Wahda at Al Nahyan Stadium. After collecting their sixth win, the Pride of Abu Dhabi now have 22 points. They will, however, be without the services of one of their most important players in the next two games as Ali Mabkhout was sent off during injury time.
The Clarets are going through a tough patch as they have failed to collect a win in their past five games, suffering two defeats and settling for three draws. They’ve now slipped to sixth place on 15 points.
The last game on Friday saw Emirates earn a valuable 3-1 win over Fujairah, which marked their second victory in the 2018/19 league campaign. They are the only home side that managed to grab a win this week. Despite the victory, the Falcons remained in 13th place but are now on eight points. The Wolves, however, dropped to eighth position on 12 points.
On Saturday, Al Ain grabbed a late 2-1 away win over Ittihad Kalba to stay in the title race as Tsukasa Shiotani netted the winner one minute from time. Following the game, the Boss remained third on 22 points, while the Tigers slipped to 10th place and are frozen on 11 points.
Shabab Al Ahli continued their positive streak, earning a big 5-0 away win over Al Dhafra. Shabab Al Ahli have now won four games and drew one in their past five matches and are fourth on 19 points. The Western Knights, however, are stuck in 12th place on nine points after losing their third game in a row.
Bani Yas and Al Nasr encounter was the only game to end in a draw in matchweek 10 as they played out a 0-0 draw at the Bani Yas Stadium. Al Nasr are unbeatable for the sixth game in a row and are now seventh on 12 points, one point above the Sky Blues in 9th place.
The last game of matchweek 10 saw Ajman extend their winning streak to three games as they beat Al Wasl 2-0. The Oranges jumped to fifth place on 16 points. This marked Al Wasl’s fourth defeat in their past five games as they have now dropped to 11th place on 10 points.
A total of 22 goals were scored in matchweek 10 with an average of 3.14 goals per match. The only game that ended goalless was Bani Yas clash with Al Nasr.
Brazilian forward Welliton Soares scored a brace against Dibba to reclaim his place at the top of goalscoring charts with 11 goals. Meanwhile, Al Wahda’s Sebastian Tagliabue and Jazira’s Ali Mabkhout are tied on 10 goals in second place.
Sharjah and Al Jazira extended their unbeaten streak as they are the only sides who are yet to lose a game after 10 matchweeks. Al Wahda hold the best attacking record with 29 goals, while Al Dhafra have the worst offensive records, having scored 11 goals only. On the other hand, Al Ain boast the best defensive records in the league, as they conceded 10 goals so far. Meanwhile, Fujairah have the worst record, having conceded 25 goals in 10 gameweeks.
