The fixtures keep on arriving for Egypt’s top three sides as Al Ahly, Zamalek and Pyramids FC continue to make up games on the rest of their Egyptian Premier League competition on Saturday. Despite playing one less match than Zamalek and Pyramids, Al Ahly are three points ahead at the top of the table while rivals Zamalek are three points back and Pyramids are five points behind.
Ahly travel to Alexandria for a matchup against Al Masry at their temporary home, the Borg El Arab Stadium, while their home stadium is being demolished and redeveloped. Masry did well to qualify for the quarterfinals of the CAF Confederation Cup but their league form has been poor with a win against Pyramids in late January their last league victory. Their record against Ahly is even more foreboding, having not beaten the reigning African champions since 2016.
Masry will rely on attackers Hassan Ali and Mohamed Grendo to give the hosts a boost along with reliable deep lying midfielders Amr Moussa and Farid Shawki. Ahly are still struggling a bit with injuries and the increase of match congestion is not helping their cause. However, veteran left back Ali Maâloul, playmaker Mohamed Magdy “Afsha” and forward Mohamed Sherif should be back in the starting lineup after making substitute appearances in their win against Al Ittihad midweek.
Zamalek earned an important victory over Pyramids on Wednesday to move back into second place and now turn their attention to maintaining steady league form following elimination from the CAF Champions League. Egypt national team center back Mahmoud Hamdy “El-Wensh” picked up a red card and will be suspended, which means reliable backup Mohamed Abdelghani will step in to partner Mahmoud Alaa while veteran left back Mohamed Abdel Shafy continues to fill in for Ahmed El-Fatouh. Ahmed Sayed “Zizo” is back in the squad and will start in the attacking midfield line.
Pyramids have work to do to get their campaign back on track after a promising start to the season has seen them lose to both Ahly and Zamalek in recent fixtures. A promising opportunity to get three points at home awaits against relegation battlers Ghazl El Mahallah, who have struggled mightily to score, only tallying once while conceding seven in their last five games. Winger Ibrahim Adel and central midfielder Ibrahim Blati Touré have been in excellent form for Pyramids and will hope to help their side gain three crucial points.
