When Al Ittihad visits Prince Hathloul Bin Abdul Aziz Sport City Stadium on Thursday night to play Al Okhdood, they'll be trying to stay within striking distance of the Saudi Pro League leaders.
After the first five games of the season, the visitors are in second position, three points behind league leaders Al-Hilal, while the hosts are in 13th place with just four points.
Al Okhdood, who barely avoided relegation the previous season, are now among the bookies' favourites to go down this time around after winning only one of their first four games of the new league.
During that period, lower-division team Al Arabi eliminated the Najran-based team from the King's Cup on their own field. They played most of the second half of the match with ten men.
Indeed, it has been a challenging start to life in Najran for Stjepan Tomas, but the new coach will be feeling much better this week after finally scooping up his first league victory with a spectacular comeback from two goals down to overcome Al Fateh 4-2 on the road over the weekend.
Now that his team is back to Prince Hathloul Bin Abdul Aziz Sport City Stadium, where they haven't scored a goal in the top flight yet this season, the Croat will need to attempt to keep up the same pace.
Al Okhdood was defeated 1-0 at this location back in the previous season's league clash between these two teams, losing 2-1 in the most recent encounter.
Al Ittihad, on the other hand, is exhibiting early-season form after posting their lowest league finish since 2019–20 in the previous campaign. They have won four of the first five gameweeks.
The most recent of those wins occurred last Friday when they overcame a goal deficit to upset Al Khaleej 4-1 at home. Meanwhile, Nadi Al-Sha'ab's lone loss in any competition this 2024–25 season came on matchday four against the Blue Waves.
The attacking output of the team led by France great Laurent Blanc has been one of their most noteworthy improvements; in just five league games, they have already scored 15 goals, one less than the reigning champions.
The key to their offensive success has been the apparent comeback of Karim Benzema, Blanc's countryman, who scored the game's first goal against Al Khaleej last time out. With six goals this season, he is one goal behind Aleksandar Mitrovic and two ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo.
Al Ittihad had a dreadful away record leading up to the conclusion of last season, winning only one of their final five matches on the road, but given their start this term, they will definitely consider this as a match they should be going away from with all three points in the bag.
