Al-Nassr to face Al-Ettifaq without six players

Al-Nassr will be without six players for their Saudi league meeting with Al-Ettifaq on Tuesday, with four members of the squad excluded from the match and two goalkeepers continuing their recovery programmes.

Mohamed Simakan, Mohammed Maran, Saad Al-Nasser and Abdulrahman Ghareeb will miss the away fixture, after being left out of the Al-Nassr coaching staff’s plans for the third-round match.

The four players are instead following a dedicated training programme on Monday as part of their preparation plan. Their absence was reported by Saudi newspaper Al-Riyadiyah, which said they had been assigned special sessions after being ruled out of the game.

Al-Nassr will travel to Al-Ettifaq for the latest round of the Saudi league, with the match taking place at Al-Ettifaq’s stadium. The defending champions travelled to Dammam on Monday afternoon and are scheduled to complete their final training session at the venue later that evening.

Goalkeepers Nawaf Al-Aqidi and Raghad Al-Najjar are also unavailable. Both continued their treatment and rehabilitation work at the club’s medical clinic on Monday afternoon, following the programme prepared for them by Al-Nassr’s team doctor.

The six absences come as Al-Nassr look to maintain their strong start to the new league season. They began their title defence with a 3-0 victory over Al-Fateh before recording an even bigger win against Al-Riyadh, beating them 4-0.

Between those two league matches, Al-Nassr also advanced in the King’s Cup. They defeated Al-Diriyah 4-1 in the round of 32 of the competition.

The match against Al-Ettifaq will therefore be the champions’ third league fixture of the campaign, but their preparations have been affected by the unavailability of the four outfield players and the continuing rehabilitation of the two goalkeepers.

With the squad travelling to Dammam on Monday and training at the match stadium in the evening, the session will provide the final preparation before Tuesday’s encounter. Al-Nassr’s opening results have produced seven goals in two league games without conceding, while their King’s Cup victory added four more goals to their tally.

Al-Ettifaq will host a side that has made an emphatic start domestically, although Al-Nassr must now manage its team selection without Simakan, Maran, Al-Nasser, Ghareeb, Al-Aqidi and Al-Najjar.