Al-Ittihad 1-0 Al-Taawoun: Al Shanqiti goal the difference in narrow league victory

Muhannad Al Shanqiti scored the only goal as Al-Ittihad’s revival in the Saudi Pro League continued with a narrow 1-0 win over Al-Taawoun on Saturday.

After going five league games without a victory, Sergio Conceicao’s team have now won their last four matches in a row to move up to fifth in the table after 12 games.

Al-Ittihad enjoyed a dominant start and saw Moussa Diaby, Al Shanqiti and Karim Benzema strike at goal, but all three saw their efforts saved by Al-Taawoun goalkeeper Mailson.

The hosts were unable to find the breakthrough despite having nine attempts in the first half, but they needed just five minutes after the restart to get themselves ahead.

A move started by Fabinho from deep saw the ball break for Diaby, whose clever pull back into the box was met by Al Shanqiti, who was on hand to fire the ball into the net.

Not wanting to rest on their one-goal lead, Benzema forced another stop from Mailson before Hamed Al Ghamdi rattled the woodwork with 20 minutes of the contest remaining.

Roger Fernandes then fired off target, but that missed chance mattered little as Al-Ittihad held on for the win, while also ending Al-Taawoun’s 12-game unbeaten run in the league.

Data Debrief: Fernandes shines as Al-Taawoun endure January blues

While the reigning champions still find themselves eight points adrift of leaders Al-Nassr in the table, Al-Ittihad will hope their recent momentum can be something to build on.

But their victory here was built on Fernandes’ dynamic midfield display. The Portuguese finished the contest with team-high totals for chances created (five), total crosses (eight), successful dribbles (four) and duels won (eight) at Prince Abdullah Al Faisal Sports City Stadium.

Al-Taawoun’s recent run of results had them flying high in the table, but they were only able to muster an expected goals (xG) total of 0.59 from their seven shots, none of which were on target, compared to Al-Ittihad’s 2.54 from their 19 attempts.

It was also a result that continued their poor form in the first month of the year. Al-Taawoun have not won any of their last five January league matches (D3 L2) and have also now failed to score in their last four.