Olunga back in action as Al Duhail prepare for crucial business end of the season

Harambee Stars striker Michael Olunga will be hoping to lead his Al Duhail side back to winning ways when they take on Al Arabi on Sunday night as the Qatar Stars League resumes normal service after a seven-week break occasioned by the Asian Cup.

Duhail, who are the defending champions, find themselves a distant sixth on 17 points, fourteen behind table-topping Al Sadd after twelve matches played in the 2023/34 season.

The team has also been in a poor run of form as they failed to win any of their last five matches before the break, losing four matches while drawing the other to lose ground in their title defense quest.

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The break has also done little to provide the team with confidence as they lost all three of the friendly matches they played against Shanghai Shenhua, Zenit and Santos.

However, former PSG boss Christoph Galtier remained optimistic that his side have what it takes to get back on track in the crucial second half of the season.

“We had a long preparation period that lasted for seven weeks during the break for the Asian Cup. Our injured players have recovered and there was a good preparation period that the players committed to in an excellent way.

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“During the preparation period, we lost a number of matches against strong teams such as Zenit Saint Petersburg and Shanghai Shenhua which helped us to adjust some things in the team structure,” he said.

“We also analyzed the team’s matches in the first half, which were not good, and I decided to make a change in the formation to improve the performance.

Our match against Al Arabi will be tough and it is an opportunity for the team to return to winning ways, especially since we are far away from the top teams. We hope to finish the season in a good position, which requires us to focus and work very seriously,” the head coach added.

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Olunga on his part will be hoping to get back on the scoring act as he has failed to find the back of the net since December 2023.

The Kenyan international has been instrumental for the side in the last two seasons where he was the league top scorer in both campaigns.

Currently, he has seven goals with Yacine Brahimi topping the charts on 14.

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