Al Hazem beat Abha 2-1 in the Saudi Professional League, helped by an early goal and a second just before half-time. The visitors took full advantage of their chances despite conceding most of the possession.
Abdulaziz Al-Dwehe finished Ahmed Al-Shamrani’s assist in the third minute to give Al Hazem the lead. Al-Shamrani doubled the advantage in the 40th minute from Sofiane Bendebka’s pass, and Mohammed Al-Dosari pulled one back for Abha with an unassisted goal in the 63rd minute, yet the home side could not draw level.
Al Hazem’s edge in quality showed in the stats: they created three big chances and scored two, while Abha had none. Abha controlled play with 63% possession and 10 shots to the visitors’ 8, but Al Hazem’s expected goals of 1.22 were far higher than Abha’s 0.42.
