DUBAI // Faisal Khalil could make his return to top-level football tonight when Al Ahli host Al Shaab in the Pro League.
Khalil pulled out of both club and UAE national team duties in September, citing "personal reasons". He returned to training this week and could get a place in the starting line-up.
"He has been training all week and looked good, so he could be playing a part in the game," said coach Ivan Hasek.
Faisal's brother Ahmed Khalil, the top scorer and Most Valuable Player in the AFC Under 19 Championship, will not be playing as he has been given time off to rest after a hectic three weeks, where he took part in the tournament in Saudi Arabia and the 2010 World Cup qualifier against Iran with the senior national team.
He also has to leave for Shanghai for the AFC Annual Awards Gala tomorrow. The teenager has been nominated for the Youth Player of the Year award after the U19's Championship triumph. Uzbekistan's Sherzodbek Karimov and the South Korean Lee Jong Ho are the other players in contention.
Ismail Matar, the Al Wahda and national team player, will also be travelling to Shanghai, hoping to win the AFC Player of the Year award. Uzbekistan's Server Djeparov, the Japanese duo Yasuhito Endo and Yuji Nakazawa, and Sebastian Soria of Qatar are the other Asian players up for the award.
Shaab have been struggling this season and have just four points from six games, but Hasek warned against under- estimating the "Commandos".
"We have to approach the match with all seriousness," he said. "We have to make sure we get the three points."
Ahli, who top the table with 15 points, will be without Ali Abbas, who is awaiting his punishment from the UAE Football Association after breaking a curfew with the national team.
arizvi@thenational.ae
The Year Earth Changed
Directed by:Tom Beard
Narrated by: Sir David Attenborough
Stars: 4
hall of shame
SUNDERLAND 2002-03
No one has ended a Premier League season quite like Sunderland. They lost each of their final 15 games, taking no points after January. They ended up with 19 in total, sacking managers Peter Reid and Howard Wilkinson and losing 3-1 to Charlton when they scored three own goals in eight minutes.
SUNDERLAND 2005-06
Until Derby came along, Sunderland’s total of 15 points was the Premier League’s record low. They made it until May and their final home game before winning at the Stadium of Light while they lost a joint record 29 of their 38 league games.
HUDDERSFIELD 2018-19
Joined Derby as the only team to be relegated in March. No striker scored until January, while only two players got more assists than goalkeeper Jonas Lossl. The mid-season appointment Jan Siewert was to end his time as Huddersfield manager with a 5.3 per cent win rate.
ASTON VILLA 2015-16
Perhaps the most inexplicably bad season, considering they signed Idrissa Gueye and Adama Traore and still only got 17 points. Villa won their first league game, but none of the next 19. They ended an abominable campaign by taking one point from the last 39 available.
FULHAM 2018-19
Terrible in different ways. Fulham’s total of 26 points is not among the lowest ever but they contrived to get relegated after spending over £100 million (Dh457m) in the transfer market. Much of it went on defenders but they only kept two clean sheets in their first 33 games.
LA LIGA: Sporting Gijon, 13 points in 1997-98.
BUNDESLIGA: Tasmania Berlin, 10 points in 1965-66
MATCH INFO
Tottenham Hotspur 3 (Son 1', Kane 8' & 16') West Ham United 3 (Balbuena 82', Sanchez og 85', Lanzini 90' 4)
Man of the match Harry Kane
LA LIGA FIXTURES
Friday
Granada v Real Betis (9.30pm)
Valencia v Levante (midnight)
Saturday
Espanyol v Alaves (4pm)
Celta Vigo v Villarreal (7pm)
Leganes v Real Valladolid (9.30pm)
Mallorca v Barcelona (midnight)
Sunday
Atletic Bilbao v Atletico Madrid (4pm)
Real Madrid v Eibar (9.30pm)
Real Sociedad v Osasuna (midnight)
