Late setback leaves Al Hilal without Salem Al-Dawsari for Al Fateh test

Al Hilal captain Salem Al-Dawsari has been ruled out of Saturday’s Roshn Saudi League match against Al Fateh after suffering another injury setback.

The Riyadh club host Al Fateh at Kingdom Arena in the capital in the 12th round of the competition, but Al-Dawsari was withdrawn from the squad after reporting to Al Hilal’s medical clinic following Friday’s training session.

The Saudi newspaper Al Riyadiah reported that the forward was injured again in the hours before the match. His condition led Italian manager Simone Inzaghi to leave him out of the team for the home fixture.

It is the second time Al-Dawsari has been omitted from the Al Hilal squad shortly before a match this season. The previous occasion came before the Roshn Saudi League clasico against Al-Ittihad on 10 October.

The 31 October fixture will also be another setback in a campaign in which Al-Dawsari has made only three appearances for Al Hilal. He has started just once, against Qatari side Al-Shamal on Tuesday, while his other two outings have come as a substitute in the closing minutes of Roshn Saudi League matches.

Al Hilal will also be without Brazilian winger Gabriel Martinelli in attack. Martinelli suffered an injury during last Friday’s 3-2 victory over Al-Qadsiah in the league.

Dutch winger Crysencio Summerville is expected to return to the starting line-up as a replacement for Martinelli and Al-Dawsari. Summerville missed the previous match against Al-Shamal because of an Asian suspension.

Al Hilal begin the weekend in third place in the Saudi league with 27 points. They are one point behind both Al-Qadsiah and Al-Nassr, although the number of matches played differs between the teams.

Al-Qadsiah have played two more matches than Al Hilal, while Al-Nassr have played one more.

Al Fateh arrive in Riyadh near the bottom of the table, occupying 17th place with six points. Their total has come from one victory and three draws, while they have lost seven of their matches this season.