{"id":2976,"date":"2026-01-02T04:41:51","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T04:41:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.spotvnow.com\/read\/?p=2976"},"modified":"2026-01-13T07:29:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T07:29:07","slug":"al-ahli-vs-al-nassr-saudi-pro-league-heavyweights-clash-in-jeddah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.spotvnow.com\/read\/al-ahli-vs-al-nassr-saudi-pro-league-heavyweights-clash-in-jeddah\/","title":{"rendered":"Al Ahli vs Al Nassr: Can Toney and Al-Ahli Derail the Al-Nassr Juggernaut?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Al Ahli vs Al Nassr<\/p>\n<p><strong>Venue:<\/strong> Alinma Stadium, Jeddah<br \/>\n<strong>Date:<\/strong> Friday, January 2<br \/>\n<strong>Kickoff:<\/strong> 20:30 AST<br \/>\n<strong>How to Watch:<\/strong> Live on SPOTV NOW<\/p>\n<p>The Saudi Pro League title race heats up as <strong>Al Nassr<\/strong> look to bounce back from a frustrating 2-2 draw against Al Ettifaq. Their next challenge? A trip to Jeddah to face <strong>Al Ahli<\/strong>, a side determined to disrupt the leaders\u2019 momentum.<\/p>\n<p>Al Nassr remain top of the table, holding a slender two-point advantage over Al Hilal. Before last matchweek\u2019s slip, they were unstoppable\u2014stringing together <strong>10 consecutive wins<\/strong>. Now, the pressure is on to maintain control at the summit.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"instagram-media\" data-instgrm-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DS5yL5yDiS5\/\"><p>&nbsp;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async defer src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Al Ahli, meanwhile, sit fourth, nine points adrift of first place. While the gap is significant, their quality makes them a dangerous opponent. Historically, Al Nassr have had the upper hand in this fixture, unbeaten in the last five meetings with three wins. Across 26 encounters, Al Nassr boast 10 victories to Al Ahli\u2019s eight.<\/p>\n<h4 id=\"playerstowatch\"><strong>Players to Watch<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>For the hosts, <strong>Ivan Toney<\/strong> has been a standout performer. The English striker has netted six goals in 10 appearances\u2014all from inside the box\u2014showcasing his clinical finishing. His conversion rate is impressive: six goals from just 13 shots on target.<\/p>\n<p>On the other side, Al Nassr\u2019s attacking duo of <strong>Cristiano Ronaldo<\/strong> and <strong>Jo\u00e3o F\u00e9lix<\/strong> continues to terrorize defenses. Both sit atop the scoring charts with 13 goals each, and their chemistry has been pivotal in Al Nassr\u2019s dominance. Stopping them will be key for Al Ahli\u2019s backline.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"instagram-media\" data-instgrm-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DS5q99gjRdD\/\"><p>&nbsp;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async defer src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Al Ahli\u2019s central pairing of <strong>Merih Demiral<\/strong> and <strong>Roger Ibanez<\/strong> will have their hands full. Demiral recently spoke about their partnership:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI really enjoy playing alongside Roger Iba\u00f1ez. Whenever he needs support, I\u2019m there for him \u2014 and the same goes the other way. Everyone can see we\u2019re the best defense in the Middle East. Of course, the goalkeeper and full-backs play a big role too, but my partnership with Iba\u00f1ez is something special.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With two prolific attacks and plenty at stake, expect a high-intensity showdown under the lights in Jeddah.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Al Ahli vs Al Nassr Venue: Alinma Stadium, Jeddah Date: Friday, January 2 Kickoff: 20:30 AST How to Watch: Live on SPOTV NOW The Saudi Pro League title race heats up as Al Nassr look to bounce back from a frustrating 2-2 draw against Al Ettifaq. Their next challenge? A trip to Jeddah to face &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spotvnow.com\/read\/al-ahli-vs-al-nassr-saudi-pro-league-heavyweights-clash-in-jeddah\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Al Ahli vs Al Nassr: Can Toney and Al-Ahli Derail the Al-Nassr Juggernaut?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2981,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[127],"class_list":["post-2976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top-stories","tag-football"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spotvnow.com\/read\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2976","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spotvnow.com\/read\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spotvnow.com\/read\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spotvnow.com\/read\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spotvnow.com\/read\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2976"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.spotvnow.com\/read\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2976\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2983,"href":"https:\/\/www.spotvnow.com\/read\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2976\/revisions\/2983"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spotvnow.com\/read\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spotvnow.com\/read\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spotvnow.com\/read\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spotvnow.com\/read\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}