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Al Ahli, Ajman and Al Jazira the most beneficiaries of round 18

The Etisalat Pro League round 18 matches of the current season, were concluded with strong and competitive performance displayed by the different teams especially in the “Match Of The Week”, Al Wasl vs. Al Ain game which was held at Zabeel Stadium and ended with a 2-2 draw. The visiting team escaped Al Wasl’s ambush and came up with a lone point. The situation remained as before without any big changes in the teams’ standings after the leaders, Al Ain, retained their top position with 43 points and Sharjah still staying at the bottom of the table with only 10 points after losing to Al Wahda 1-2 , for the winners to take 7th spot with 24 points. 

In the other matches of this round, Dubai and Emirate teams lost to Al Ahli and Ajman 2-5 and 1-3 to stay in the 11th and 10th positions respectively while Al Ahli are in 8th place with 22 points and Ajman are in 5th spot with 27 points. So Ajman and Al Ahli along with Al Jazira who beat Al Shabab 2-0 and moved to second place, were the most beneficiary teams of round 18. Ajman came closer to compete for one of the four top positions after the third-placed Al Nasr with 33 points drew with Bani Yas 2-2.

Al Jazira jumped to the second place with 35 points following their 2-0 win over Al Shabab and also benefited much of the outcome of Al Wasl and Al Ain match which ended with a 2-2 draw. They also revenged their last 0-4 loss to Al Shabab in their Etisalat Cup encounter. Al Jazira, who are 8 points behind Al Ain, will face them in an important match in the next round at Tahnoun Bin Mohammed Stadium- Al Qattara. A win in this “clasico” game will see Al Ain being crowned officially as League’s champions, but a victory for Al Jazira will reduce the deficit between the two teams to five points with three rounds still remaining.

On the other hand, Ghanaian Asamoah Gyan of Al Ain retained his leadership to the League scorers with 17 goals following netting two goals against Al Wasl. Brazilian Graffiti player of Al Ahli scored his first hat trick in their match against Dubai to raise his balance to 24 goals, the same that of his countryman Al Jazira’s Brazilian striker Ricardo Oliveira who scored one goal against Al Shabab followed by Al Wasl’s front liner Juan Oliveira from Uruguay with 13 goals.