JEDDAH — Defending Saudi Professional League champion Shabab Club of Riyadh has extended its majestic unbeaten streak to 34 matches and remains atop the standing with 10 points after four rounds. With three wins and a draw the champion has made its intentions clear this season. Shabab opened the league with a 4-0 rout of Najran in Riyadh and outplayed Al-Faisaly 3-1 in the second game. The real test came in the third round from last year's league runner-up Al-Ahli in Jeddah. The match ended 2-2. But Shabab stamped its class in the fourth round round by outplaying Al-Wehda of Makkah 5-2 at King Abdul Aziz Sport City in Makkah. Shabab is on top on goal difference as Al-Fateh also has earned 10 points from three wins and a draw. Al-Fateh has impressed by its commanding show and sports commentators have branded the team as the dark horse. The team could be competing for the title if it continued to show its spectacular performance. However, it was a different story for other heavyweights Al-Hilal, Al-Ittihad, Al-Ahli and Al-Nasr. In the case of Hilal, the team stumbled in the opening match against Hajr for a 2-2 draw. The team nosedived again in the second match by suffering a humiliating 2-1 defeat to Al-Fateh in Riyadh. Hilal, however, fixed its problems by bouncing back to an authoritative 6-0 win over Najran in Najran. But the team stumbled again by drawing with Ittifaq 1-1 in the fourth match. Ittifaq managed to level the game in injury time. Hilal is currently in the sixth position with four points. Ittihad too was off to a shaky start with a 2-2 draw with Al-Raid. Ittihad then came strong in the second round and secured a relatively easy 3-0 win over Ittifaq in Jeddah. It continued the winning streak by securing an important 1-0 win over Nasr in the third round. But again Ittihad bungled against Al-Faisaly for a 2-2 draw in Jeddah. Currently Ittihad is ranked third with eight points. Nasr which promised its fans a bright future before the start of the league, lost ground in the opener itself by drawing 1-1 against Al-Fateh. Nasr came back strong in the second by recording an important 4-0 win over Al-Raid. But the team lost to Ittihad 1-0 despite a good performance. The team, however, recovered in the fourth round by winning over Al-Taawoun 2-1. Currently the team is ranked fourth with seven points. Al-Ahli was off to a storming start by routing the newcomer Al-Shoulla 5-0 at Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal stadium in Jeddah. Ahli's second match against Al-Taawoun was postponed due to the death of a Al-Taawoun player. Ahli then drew with Al-Shabab 2-2 and Hajr 0-0 in Jeddah. Currently Ahli is seventh with five points and a match pending. Goals are aplenty this season as by the fourth round 92 goals have been scored. Hassan Tair from Al-Shoulla and Doris Salumu from Al-Fateh are the top scores with five goals each so far. The goal in the 2nd minute by Waleed Al-Jizani of Najran against Al-Faisaly is the fastest goal scored this season. The Shabab-Al-Wehda match saw the highest number of goals with a 5-2 win for Shabab.
