Buraidah, Saudi Arabia, April 29, 2026, 19:08 (AST)
Al Taawoun and Al Ittihad named their starting teams shortly before Wednesday’s Saudi Pro League kickoff in Buraidah, putting Roger Martínez and Youssef En-Nesyri at the front of a fifth-versus-sixth meeting with more edge than the table first suggests. Fox listed Al Taawoun in a 4-3-3, with Al Ittihad in a 4-2-3-1 at King Abdullah Sport City Stadium. (FOX Sports)
The fixture matters now because Al Taawoun sit fifth on 49 points from 29 matches, four points ahead of sixth-placed Al Ittihad, while fourth-placed Al Qadsiah are already on 62. That leaves the game looking less like a late title marker and more like a direct fight over position, pride and the closing shape of the top half. (Goal)
For Al Ittihad, the pressure is sharper. The reigning champions arrive out of the title race, four points behind Al Taawoun and coming off a 4-3 league defeat to Neom, KhelNow wrote in a preview published Wednesday. Karim Benzema’s February move to Al Hilal remains part of the background to their thinner attack. (Khel Now)
Al Taawoun’s listed XI was Mailson; Al Dossari, Lajami, Andrei and Mahzari; Fulgini, El Mahdioui and Flavio; Petkov, Martínez and Al Kuwaykibi. Al Ittihad’s side was Rajkovic; Mitaj, Mahbub, Sharahili and Simic; Fabinho and Al-Nashri; Bergwijn, Aouar and Fernandes; En-Nesyri. (FOX Sports)
The home side have a cleaner selection picture. FotMob listed no unavailable players for Al Taawoun, while Saad Al-Mousa was the unavailable player for Al Ittihad. (FotMob)
Sports Mole’s Aishat Akanni forecast a 2-1 Al Ittihad win, writing that the visitors had “enough quality in the final third” to find a way through. The same preview said Al Taawoun had won seven and drawn four of 14 home league fixtures, a useful floor against a side short of away rhythm. (Sports Mole)
Ratingbet’s Benjamin Mcneil, listed by the site as a betting expert, framed the match as “expecting at least a couple of goals” and showed a 42% model chance for an Al Ittihad win, against 31% for Al Taawoun and 27% for a draw. His posted pick was “total over 2.5 goals”, a betting market that needs at least three goals in the match. (ratingbet.com)
KhelNow’s Saikat Sengupta took the other side of the prediction split, calling a 1-1 draw and saying Al Ittihad could “clinch a late equaliser” despite Al Taawoun’s home edge. The site also listed Martínez as Al Taawoun’s key forward after 20 goals in 27 games, while Bergwijn was marked as Al Ittihad’s wide threat with five goals and three assists in 17 games. (Khel Now)
The risk for Al Taawoun is the match-up history. Al Ittihad have not lost to Al Taawoun in their last five meetings, while FotMob listed the broader head-to-head at 13 Al Ittihad wins, six Al Taawoun wins and six draws. (FotMob)
The counter-risk sits in Al Ittihad’s defending. KhelNow said the Jeddah club had gone 11 games without a clean sheet, which gives Al Taawoun a clear route into the game if Martínez and Fulgini can get early service. (Khel Now)
Al Qadsiah’s distance in fourth means neither club can dress this as a clean late push for the top four. But the winner in Buraidah would still take something useful from a season that is narrowing fast: Al Taawoun would open a stronger cushion over a big-name rival, while Al Ittihad would cut the gap and quiet, for one night at least, the talk of a champion drifting.
