Al Ain moved closer to clinching the Adnoc Pro League title after a 1-0 win over Al Dhafra at the Hamdan bin Zayed Stadium on Saturday.
The result stretched their lead at the top of the table to 10 points, meaning they only need one more victory from their remaining four games to be crowned champions for the 14th time.
Caio Canedo scored the only goal of the match on the half-hour mark for the Garden City Club to seal their latest three points.
Cristian Guanca floated a cross inside the area for Canedo to tower above the Dhafra defence and head home.
Dhafra ended the game with 10 men as defender Khalaf Al Hosani was sent off in the 48th minute after bringing down Canedo.
Al Ain can start the celebrations on Wednesday if they beat Al Jazira at the Hazza bin Zayed but manager Serhiy Rebrov has warned his players against complacency.
“It’s true we need one win from the remaining four games but we still need to win that one game,” the Ukrainian said.
“We achieved our objective of winning full points against Dhafra but we didn’t play as well as we should have. There is a lot of pressure on the players when it comes to such situation but hopefully we can achieve our objective as quickly as possible.
“The players are well aware of what is required when we meet Jazira and all our focus is in preparing for this game at home and in front of our fans.”
Meanwhile, Thomas Olsen scored both goals for Shabab Al Ahli as they secured a 2-1 win over Kalba at the Rashid Stadium in Dubai.
It took only four minutes for Shabab Al Ahli to open the scoring when Ahmad Nourollahi found the unmarked Olsen inside the area who finished the simplest of chances.
The Norwegian striker doubled the lead in the 22nd minute when he met Yuri Cesar's through ball with a right-footed finish into the bottom left corner of the net.
The visitors reduced the lead two minutes after the hour-mark when Peniel Mlapa powered home a head from Robert Zulij's corner.
