Professional League match preview: Saham versus Al-Rustaq

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Competition: Oman Professional League
Competition: Fri 13.March
Match begins: 15:50 (UTC)
Venue: Sohar Regional Sports Complex (39000 seats)

There should be a significant difference in quality between these teams based on table positions so far, with Saham leading Al-Rustaq by 5 points.

Both teams have had enough rest since their last competitive action. Let's hope for an energetic game!

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Saham form and stats

Saham have played 11 Professional League games at their own stadium so far this season, resulting in 6-2-3 (wins-draws-losses).

Saham faced defeat in their previous match, away at Al-Nahda (1-2). Ahead of that match, Saham lost 0-2 at home to Al Suwaiq.

This is expected to be a close game, with Saham perhaps considered small favourites due to their home advantage. Looking back at earlier matches similar to this one (expected to be close with Saham as a small favourite), we find nine games. Saham has won five of these, drawn three and lost one.

Saham have proved capable of finding the net in their games here at Sohar Regional Sports Complex with 19 goals in 11 league matches. 15 goals have been conceded.

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Al-Rustaq form and stats

The visitors are W3-D4-L4 on the road this term. That's in the Professional League.

Al-Rustaq's last game ended in a draw, the home match versus Muscat that finished 4-4. A 0-0 draw at Al Seeb's stadium before that.

Drawing 4-4 against Muscat after 90 minutes last time out was very disappointing after leading the match 4-1. Their manager needs to evaluate why the team couldn't defend their result. As you can tell from the result, the match against Muscat was as crazy as a clown in a village circus. Great fun for the neutral supporter with 8 goals, will the fun continue today?

So, this is expected to be a close game, an even contest. Looking at earlier matches with Al-Rustaq playing away and similar expectations, we found four relevant matches. Results were two Al-Rustaq wins, zero draws and two defeats.

Many goals are not expected from the visiting Al-Rustaq as they have only managed to score 6 times from 11 away games in the league. They concede less than a goal on average per away game (8 so far).

Head 2 Head

The dueling parties have met before this season: Al-Rustaq - Saham 5-1. Head-2-head stats last five meetings: two - two - one (Saham wins - draws - Al-Rustaq wins). As for goals, three matches ended with three or more goals (over 2,5), two had two or less.

Saham missing players

Al-Rustaq missing players

Saham Al-Rustaq
Total Home vs low Statistics Stat vs top Away Total
22 11 4 Played P 3 11 22
8 6 2 Won W 1 3 6
8 2 1 Drew D 1 4 9
6 3 1 Lost L 1 4 7
29 19 8 Scored S 2 6 25
29 15 8 Conceded C 3 8 22
91% 100% 100% Over 0.5 O 0.5 67% 73% 82%
73% 73% 100% Over 1.5 O 1.5 67% 45% 59%
41% 55% 75% Over 2.5 O 2.5 33% 9% 27%
23% 27% 25% Over 3.5 O 3.5 0% 0% 14%
18% 27% 25% Over 4.5 O 4.5 0% 0% 14%
64% 64% 75% BTTS BTTS 33% 18% 41%
23% 18% 0% Clean Sheets C S 33% 45% 32%
23% 18% 25% Failed to Score F T 67% 64% 45%
 
4.5 3.9 4.8 Corners for (avg) C F 2.3 2.9 2.6
5 5.6 4 Corners against (avg) C A 4.3 2.3 2.9
2.1 1.9 1.5 Yellow cards (avg) Y C 3 1.2 1.3
4 3 1 Red cards R C 0 0 1
 
128 56 15 Total Shots T S 22 61 125
58 28 8 Shots on Target S O 6 16 40
48% 68% 100% Goal Efficiency G E 33% 31% 60%
Key stats in Professional League this season:
  • Al-Rustaq has the fewest matches over the total-line (4)
  • Saham have played more matches over 2,5 goals home than away.
  • Saham have scored at least twice as many goals at home as Al-Rustaq have scored away.
  • Saham haven’t played a single 0-0 game at home.

  Total Home Away  
# Team MP W D L F A MP W D L F A MP W D L F A +/- P
1 Al Seeb 22 14 7 1 33 11 11 7 4 0 16 3 11 7 3 1 17 8 22 49
2 Dhofar 22 13 5 4 37 11 11 6 3 2 18 6 11 7 2 2 19 5 26 44
3 Al-Nahda 22 9 6 7 31 30 11 5 3 3 15 14 11 4 3 4 16 16 1 33
4 Saham 22 8 8 6 29 29 11 6 2 3 19 15 11 2 6 3 10 14 0 32
5 Al Nasr 22 8 8 6 25 27 11 4 5 2 17 17 11 4 3 4 8 10 -2 32
6 Sohar 22 9 4 9 27 24 11 4 4 3 11 10 11 5 0 6 16 14 3 31
7 Fanja 22 7 8 7 34 37 11 5 3 3 20 20 11 2 5 4 14 17 -3 29
8 Bahla 22 6 10 6 24 24 11 5 3 3 11 9 11 1 7 3 13 15 0 28
9 Muscat 22 7 7 8 29 30 11 5 3 3 13 10 11 2 4 5 16 20 -1 28
10 Al Suwaiq 22 8 4 10 21 26 11 6 1 4 15 11 11 2 3 6 6 15 -5 28
11 Al-Rustaq 22 6 9 7 25 22 11 3 5 3 19 14 11 3 4 4 6 8 3 27
12 Oman Club 22 6 5 11 18 32 11 5 3 3 9 12 11 1 2 8 9 20 -14 23
13 Al Oruba 22 5 5 12 15 25 11 4 4 3 9 9 11 1 1 9 6 16 -10 20
14 Mrbat 22 2 6 14 18 38 11 1 3 7 8 16 11 1 3 7 10 22 -20 12

Read more about Professional League

The Oman Professional League is the top division of Omani football. It was founded in 1976 and has gone through many changes in format. The current league table has 14 teams playing each other twice to decide the champion.Only four foreign players are allowed in each team.