(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) The Cheetahs continue to be the hunters and not the hunted. Al Wasl continued their dominant unbeaten streak to go clear at the top of the Arabian Gulf League standings with victory over Al Dhafra.
Caio Canedo fired a brace, with both assists from Fabio de Lima, and Abdulrahman Ali scored one as Rodolfo Arruabarrena's men won 3-0 at the Zabeel Stadium on Friday night.
The win, their sixth in eight games, took The Cheetahs to 20 points and edged them clear of Al Ain. Al Wasl and Al Ain were joint leaders prior to this fixture.
It was Al Wasl's fourth win at home and they are yet to lose or draw a game at their fortress. Their two draws have come on the road.
Elsewhere, Marcelo Cirino fired a brace and Argentine Mauro Zarate, on loan from Watford, scored his first goal for Al Nasr as The Blues swamped Hatta 5-1 at the Hatta Stadium.
It was a huge relief for coach Cesare Prandelli, the former Italy coach, after what has been a stop-start season so far.
Their fourth win took Al Nasr to fourth on the table with 13 points but that could change with Shabab Al Ahli set to play Dibba on Saturday night. The Al Quasis side are fifth with 12 points.
Meanwhile, Sharjah beat Ajman by a solitary goal at the Rashid bin Saeed Stadium in Ajman.
At the Zabeel Stadium, it was the visitors who had begun well with a few threatening moves. The closest they came was through Ali Ibrahim Al Hammadi but shot stopper Sultan Al Manthari pulled off a fine save to deny the Al Dhafra captain.
Al Wasl shook off their rather subdued start to take control of proceedings. Ronaldo Mendes flashed it over from the left after a long ball from the right, on 15 minutes and it didn't take long for the hosts to go ahead.
Two minutes after Mendes' attempt, Abdulrahman Ali shook off his markers to head home Anthony Caceres' corner.
They were two goals to the good on 23 minutes with Caio Canedo tucking in Lima's pass into the far corner of the net.
Lima had an opportunity to get on the scoresheet, three minutes before the break, but his left-footer from inside the box was pushed away for a corner by goalkeeper Zayed Ahmed Hammadi.
Al Wasl pushed ahead for a third after resumption and Mendes fired one over the cross bar on 57 minutes. Coach Arruabarrena was banished to the stands on the hour following an argument with the referee Ammar Al Jneibi.
But that didn't deter The Cheetahs from notching a third, Canedo volleying home Lima's chip from the left, for his sixth goal in the League.
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