(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Lekhwiya Club will be looking to maintain their unbeaten streak in the current Qatar Stars League Season and gain full points against the visiting Al Sailiya today.
Having gained eighteen points and sitting third in the points table behind leaders El Jaish and Al Sadd.
With Al Sailiya side currently hovering in the relegation zone, today's game is expected to be an easy kill for the strong Lekhwiya outfit.
However, Djamel Belmadi is not ready to take things easy. The head coach of Lekhwiya believes that Sailiya will be looking to bounce back.
'The game is against Sailiya, a team that doesn't have the best attack right now. Last year they had good results and this year they are struggling. It will be difficult to play against them as four teams are going down, so no one wants to lose points. All the big teams are finding it hard to get results. It's not easy as we saw last week teams like Al Sadd, El Jaish and Al Rayyan had tough matches, Belmadi said.
Speaking about his team's defensive issues, Belmadi added, 'It's a mental thing, we score first then we concede. It's frustrating but I think it's something easy to correct. In the game against Umm Salal we had 65% possession and many more shots but just because we were switching of often we were conceding. We need to be switched on and be concentrating.
'I don't see any connection between last season and this season. Like every game it will be a difficult as they have a good coach and good players. I don't think about last year, added the Algerian tactician.
Al Sailiya are struggling for form in the league as they only have six points from eight games. The Peregrines will be aiming for a positive result in order to turn their season around.
Sami Trabelsi, the head coach of Al Sailiya thinks that Lekhwiya have the best attack in the league, 'It's a short time between two matches and we need to make some corrections. We are facing the best attack in the league and they have the best scorer in Yusef El Arabi. They have a problem in defence and I hope we can take advantage of that.
'We are still not happy or satisfied, we can still do better. Efoulou is a good player and game by game he gets better. He has the talent and can do a lot of things. The best thing from our team is that even if the referee makes mistakes we continue our game and don't show reaction, added the Tunisian head coach at a press conference held yesterday.
Elsewhere, Al Wakrah will go head to head against Al Arabi.
The match will take place at the Al Wakrah stadium with a 6.10pm kick-off.
Al Wakrah is in a tough situation as they are bottom of the league with only three points from eight games. The Blue Waves will be looking to get maximum points against Al Arabi to keep their survival hopes alive.
Kais Yaakoubi, the head coach of Al Wakrah believes it will be a tough game, 'Al Arabi is a team that lost more than three games. However, on the individual level, they are one of the best teams in the league. The technical value of the team is high. They are facing some troubles and we will try to benefit from their mistakes.
Al Arabi is heading into the game off the back off five straight losses and are in the drop zone at the moment. The Dream team will be looking to get back to the glory days with a win against Al Wakrah.
Edison Aguirre, the head coach of Al Arabi gave his thoughts on his first matches in charge, 'Since I came to be the coach of the team we have two different matches. One was the derby against Al Sadd and now we have Al Wakrah, two very different teams which require two different approaches. Now we will focus in this match on the balance of defence and attack.
At Al Gharafa Stadium, Muaither lock horns with Umm Salal.
Muaither put up a good fight against the champions, Al Rayyan, but suffered a narrow 1-0 loss last week and are currently placed eighth in the table.
Philip Birrol, the head coach of Muaither had this to say about his opponents, 'Umm Salal are a solid team, they are sixth in the league. They play compact like us so this will be a tactical game. They attack very well and they defend well. We are looking forward to it.
Speaking about the game plan, Birrol added, 'We know not to concede goals. We can't score three or four goals in one game. The important thing for us is the result. I ask my team to concentrate because Umm Salal often takes advantage of opponents errors, I think both teams are on the same level so it will be a very close game.
Umm Salal are sixth in the table with ten points and are coming off a loss against Lekhwiya. They will be looking to bounce back against promoted side Muaither.
Bulent Uygun, the head coach of Umm Salal will do his best to win this match, 'We need to win this match. We will attack and we will not give priority to defending. We will go for the goals in order to get the three points.
Speaking about his team's ambitions this season, Uygun added, 'We are not focused on the top four spots, we are focused on maintaining our position and playing to the best of our abilities.
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