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Al Ain are 7 points ahead of nearest rivals at the end of the first round

Defending champions Al Ain retained their top position of the Etisalat Pro League for this season with 34 points following their two straight goals win over Al Nasr in the last first round game. The French striker Ekoko and his Ghanaian teammate Gyan Asamoah scored both goals for Al Ain to put their side 7 points ahead of nearest rivals Al Jazira, one of the most beneficial teams in the previous round after showing superiority over their opponents Al Wahda in an exciting derby beating them 2-0 to remain as runner-up with a record of 27 points. Al Jazira also benefited much from the draw obtained by Al Ahli against Al Dhafra for the former to slip from second to third spot with 26 points.

Bani Yas were back to their winning ways after two losses in a row in the 11th and 12th rounds to Al Ain and Al Jazira respectively. They outclassed Al Wasl at Al Shamkha Stadium to take 4th position with 25 points and keep their hopes alive in the competition.

The most important thing that characterizes the last round was the 5th successive win maintained by Al Shabab over Al Shaab beating them 3-0. Despite of Al Shabab modest start in the league competition, but their Brazilian coach Paqueta was able to put them on the right track and helped his side to step forward staying in sixth place with 20 points, taking advantage of Al Wahda defeat from Al Jazira.

On the other hand Ajman came out with a big victory beating their counterpart Dibba Al Fujairah 4-1 in a match marred by heavy rain, especially in the second half. The Ivorian Boris Kabi netted three goals (hat-trick) after the Iraqi striker Karrar Jassim scored the opener. Karrar was red carded after 75 minutes due to his continuous protest in a nervous way to the referee Abdul Wahid Khater's decisions Ajman raised their tally to 15 points and jumped to 10th place while Dibba Al Fujairah remained at the bottom of the ladder with only 4 points.

Ittihad Kalba took their balance to 7 points, the same that of Al Shaab, to remain second from the bottom after forcing Dubai to a draw at Al Aweer Stadium. They are one step behind Al Shaab as the latters beat them 4-0 in their first week head-to-head match.

The impact of Kalba’s contract with their new Brazilian coach Jose Mario, appears through achieving 4 points out of 6 in the last two games which is considered a good indicator that might take the team back to the right track at the beginning of the second round matches next January.

It is worth mentioning that the last round of the league first part has seen a record of 25 goals in seven games, an average of approximately 3.5 goals per game, and the Ghanaian Gyan Asamoah, the striker of Al Ain, remains on top of the scorers with 21 goals, having managed to score the second goal for his team in the last match against Al Nasr. The Brazilian Grafite of Al Ahli comes in second place in the list of the scorers with 19 goals after scoring his team's lone goal against Al Dhafra from the penalty spot in the last minute of the first half, while Ajman’s Ivorian professional player Boris Kabi takes third position with 11 goals. Al Ain’s midfielder Omar Abdulrahman remains on the top of the local scorers with 7 goals although he did not score in the last encounter against Al Nasr, followed by Ali Mabkhout of Al Jazira in second place with 6 goals.