Sports Mole previews Tuesday's World Cup Qualifying - Asia clash between Saudi Arabia and China, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.

Seeking to maintain their 100% record in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, Saudi Arabia welcome China to the King Abdullah Sports City Stadium on Tuesday.

The visitors, on the other hand, picked up a morale-boosting victory against Vietnam last time out and will look to keep the juggernaut rolling.

Match preview

Saudi Arabia celebrates after an goal by midfielder Yasser Alshahrani (13) during the first half against the Ivory Coast in Group D play during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Summer Games at Nissan Stadium on July 22, 2021 © Reuters

Saudi Arabia kicked off their quest for a sixth World Cup appearance back in June, when they saw off Palestine, Yemen, Singapore and Uzbekistan to progress into the third qualifying round.

Herve Renard's men continued their fine string of performances as they beat 10-man Vietnam 3-1 in their Group B opener on September 2, before edging out Oman 1-0 five days later.

Saudi Arabia maintained their perfect record in the qualifiers as they claimed a narrow 1-0 win over Japan when the sides faced off last Thursday.

Al-Fateh forward Firas Albirakan came up trumps for the Green Falcons as he grabbed a 71st-minute winner seven minutes after coming off the bench.

Saudi Arabia, who are currently level on nine points with Australia at the top of the standings, head into Tuesday's game on a run of eight consecutive victories, dating back to a 2-1 friendly loss at the hands of Jamaica back in November 2020.

This is in no small part down to their stellar display at both ends of the pitch as they have scored 20 goals in that time, while conceding just one.

China's Xiang Ji celebrates with teammates pictured in December 2019 © Reuters

China, on the other hand, got their quest for a second World Cup appearance back on track as they moved out of the bottom of the table courtesy of a 3-2 win over Vietnam last Thursday.

Following an uneventful first half, Yuning Zhang and Wu Lei scored to put the Dragon's Team two goals up, but after Ho Tan Tai and Nguyen Tien Linh restored parity, Lei netted his second of the game in the 95th minute to condemn Vietnam to a fourth consecutive loss.

Prior to that, China suffered a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Monday's hosts in September's reverse fixture, before losing 1-0 to Australia five days later.

Manager Tie Li will hope the win last time out can serve as a springboard for a fine run of form as they look to leapfrog third-placed Japan and move into the playoff spot.

However, they face the stern test of going up against a rampant Saudi Arabia side who are unbeaten in three of the most recent four encounters between the teams, picking up two wins and one draw.

Saudi Arabia World Cup Qualifying - Asia form:

Saudi Arabia form (all competitions):

China World Cup Qualifying - Asia form:

China form (all competitions):

Team News

Salem Al-Dawsari during a Saudi Arabia training session on June 24, 2018 © Reuters

Saudi Arabia will take to the pitch without the services of Al-Hilal midfielder Abdullah Otayf, who sustained an injury against Vietnam back in September.

The duo of Salem Al-Dawsari and Mohammed Al-Breik also miss out as they are currently recuperating from injuries sustained at club level, while Al-Ahli Saudi midfielder Ali Al-Asmari and Al-Hilal forward Abdullah Al-Hamdan have been overlooked in the call up.

On the back of a solid display against Japan last time out, Renard could name a similar side this Tuesday, meaning we could see Saleh Al-Shehri handle business at the attacking end of the pitch once again.

Meanwhile, with nine goal involvements in his last seven international outings, Wu Lei has been on song for China, and the Espanyol forward will definitely be one to look out for.

Beijing Guoan forward Yuning Zhang has netted six goals in his last five games for club and country, and the 24-year-old could retain his position in the visitors' attack.

Saudi Arabia possible starting lineup:
Al-Owais; Al-Shahrani, Madu, Al-Amri, Al-Ghannam; Al Malki, Kanno; Ghareeb, Al-Faraj, Albirakan; Al-Shehri

China possible starting lineup:
Yan; S Wang, Browning, L Zhang, G Wang, Liu, X Zhang, Wu, Lei; Elkeson; Y Zhang

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We say: Saudi Arabia 2-0 China

China head into Tuesday's game in sky-high spirits following their morale-boosting victory over Vietnam last time out.

While they will be looking to carry on the momentum, they face a rampant Saudi Arabia side who are on a blistering eight-game winning streak. We predict Saudi Arabia will maintain their perfect record in the qualifiers and come away with all three points.

Top tip

Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting over 1.5 goals in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.

Written by
Joshua Ojele

Data Analysis

Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Saudi Arabia win with a probability of 40.51%. A win for China had a probability of 36.43% and a draw had a probability of 23.1%.

The most likely scoreline for a Saudi Arabia win was 2-1 with a probability of 8.53%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (6.34%) and 2-0 (5.36%). The likeliest China win was 1-2 (8.05%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (10.09%). The actual scoreline of 3-2 was predicted with a 3.8% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Saudi Arabia would win this match.