The respective head coaches of Al Sadd and Al Arabi are full of confidence heading into Sunday’s crunch encounter at Lekhwiya Stadium (kick-off 7:30 PM).
 
Sadd beat in-form Al Khor 3-1 last week to arrest a slide which saw them go four games without a win. The Wolves’ poor form had seen them drop out of the top four, but they replaced Arabi in the Qatar Cup places after beating the Knights.
 
Sadd’s Portuguese head coach Jesualdo Ferreira is expecting a tough test against Arabi but is confident his players have turned a corner following the Khor win.
 
Ferreira said: “Al Arabi have performed well recently and managed some good results against the likes of Al Gharafa and Lekhwiya. We will have to bring our best form because this is an important game for the top four.”
 
Ferreira added: “The win against Al Khor was important. I was pleased with the performance and our objective now is to continue playing like that. I don’t want the players to settle for fourth place – we want to win every game between now and the end of the season.”


 
The Dream Team meanwhile were in very good form before facing runaway league leaders Al Rayyan in week 19 and succumbing to a 2-0 defeat.
 
Arabi’s Italian head coach Gianfranco Zola said: “We have already forgotten about the Rayyan game. I told the players we still have a great chance of making an impact between now and the end of the season, so it’s important we focus on upcoming matches.”
 
Zola is hoping to have Ali Jasimi back in the side to face Sadd, after the midfielder missed the Rayyan game.
 
He added: “Ali is an important player for us. His range of passing gives us a lot of options and we hope he will be able to face Sadd.”
 
With the QSL title race almost over, attention will quickly turn to the top four race and relegation battle. And this match could have a huge bearing on the Qatar Cup make-up.