Lekhwiya put six past the ten men of Al Khor yesterday, with Yousef El Arabi scoring a hat-trick on his return to the Qatar Stars League after Africa Cup of Nations duty with Morocco.
The game, which was played at the Lekhwiya stadium, took a turn in the 26th minute when Al Khor keeper Baba Djibril gave away a penalty for a foul on Nam Tae Hee and was handed a red card for dissent following the spot kick decision.
Ghaith Jumaa came in as the replacement keeper and was faced with El Arabi stepping up for the penalty shot. The Moroccan slotted it into the bottom right corner to give Lekhwiya the lead.
In the 39th minute Youssef Msakni dribbled past a couple of Al Khor players and then played a defence splitting pass to Nam Tae Hee in the box. The South Korean found himself one on one with the keeper and put the ball past Jumaa to double Lekhwiya’s lead.
The Cops were awarded a second penalty when El Arabi was fouled in the box. The Moroccan international then took the penalty shot and scored, hitting the ball into the bottom right corner of the goal in the 59th minute.
El Arabi completed his hat trick in the 66th minute when Msakni’s shot from outside the box hit the post and then deflected off the keeper into the path of the Moroccan striker. EL Arabi guided the ball into the net to score his third goal of the night.
Just eight minutes later, Msakni bulldozed his way into the box from the left, going past three players before curling it past the keeper into the far side of the net to make the score 5-0.
Nam Tae Hee put the final nail in the coffin in the 79th minute. The midfielder dribbled towards the edge of the box, created some space and then sent the ball into the goal with a long range strike leaving  the keeper flatfooted.
The result means that Djamel Belmadi’s men stay top of the table with 49 points. Al Khor, on the other hand, have 19 points after as many games following this heavy defeat.
In the second match of the day, a flurry of second-half goals from Al Rayyan took the game out of the hands of Al Ahli, winning 5-1.
Al Rayyan opened the scoring in the 17th minute. Sergio Garcia passed the ball to Abdulmajeed Enad, who received the ball just outside the box and then curled the ball into the top left corner past the Al Ahli keeper, Yazan Naim.
In the 31st minute, Al Ahli responded with a goal of their own to level the score line.  Yassine Chikhaoui got on the end of an incisive pass from Meshaal Abdulla. The Tunisian slid in to roll the ball into the net with his right foot past Al Rayyan keeper, Omar Barry, who was off his line.
After an exciting 45 minutes, full of end to end play and an attacking intent from the two teams, the first half ended level at 1-1.
Rodrigo Tabata was brought on in the second half and it turned out to be an important substitution as he scored a goal in the 69th minute. The striker scored his eleventh goal of the season after a good bit of interplay with Garcia before smashing the ball into the bottom left corner to give his side the lead.
Sebastian Soria added a third goal for the Lions in the 75th minute to make it 3-1. The Qatari international tapped in a cross from the left by Musab al-Khader into the goal from close range to give his side a two-goal cushion.
Myong-Jin Ko added a fourth goal in the 82nd minute. The Korean defender got on the end of a Tabata free kick and tapped the ball into the goal to put the match well out of the reach of Al Ahli.
Just six minutes later Abdulrahman al-Harazi scored the fifth and final goal for Al Rayyan to end the match at 5-1. Garcia was once again involved as his shot came off the keeper into al-Harazi’s path, who guided the ball into the unguarded net.
The win keeps Michael Laudrup’s men in third place with 40 points, while Yousef Adam’s Al Ahli remain in sixth with 23 points.