Al Gharafa coach Christian Gourcuff was confident his team can cut down on errors when they face Al Arabi today in the QNB Stars League. Al Gharafa are coming off after three successive defeats and are eager to turn it around. 
Gourcuff’s men had lost to Al Kharaitiyat 0-2 last week and are seventh in the standings with seven points from two wins and a draw. Gharafa are sorely missing the services of star Dutch attacking midfielder Wesley Sneijder, who is nursing a muscle strain, while Diego Amado is suspended.
Ahmed Alaaeldin is back in training, but is a doubtful starter for today’s match. The good news was that goalkeeper Yousef Hassan has returned from his injury.
“We are suffering from the absences and it undoubtedly affects any team,” said Gourcuff yesterday. “At the same time, it will give opportunities to other players, especially youngsters. We are trying to rectify the mistakes that we have made. We will definitely find solutions to them. All is well with the team despite some negative results and the management is very supportive of us. There is no problem with us off the field. Our problems are on the pitch,” he added.
Al Gharafa have scored 12 goals in the season so far but have conceded 14, which has made things difficult so far. “We are in a difficult stage. We need to play with determination and make less mistakes. The onus is on our youngsters to grab the chances with both hands,” Gourcuff said.
The Gharafa manager was still optimistic of finishing in the top four. “Our ambition is to be in the top four, but now, we aim to provide a good game to regain the confidence. We have to get into our style and fight our way back into the tournament,” said Gourcuff.
Meanwhile, Al Arabi too are looking to be back to winning ways after they had suffered a defeat at the hands of Al Sailiya last week. Al Arabi are sixth in the points table with 12 points from four victories. Mailson de Farias and Mohammed El Neel will to lead Al Arabi’s challenge.
Arabi coach Luka Bonacic was hopeful his team will overcome the disappointment of losing to Sailiya. “We will try to get back to winning ways with a victory against Al Gharafa. At the same time, Gharafa had lost in their last three games and will come hard at us. We must be wary of them,” Bonacic said. 
“We have to get back our winning mentality. We hope to put up our best. We must be prepared for all scenarios. I can make physical and tactical changes, but I cannot change the mentality of the players. We play one or two games very well, and then fare badly in one or two games,” he added. 
In the day’s another match, Qatar SC will take on Al Kharaitiyat. Qatar SC are on four points from one victory and a draw, while Al Kharaitiyat are 11th with three points.
But Kharaitiyat registered their first win against Gharafa 2-0 last week, to collect their first points. Striker Abdulhadi Amin scored both their goals. While Qatar SC were beaten 5-1 by A Sadd in the previous round. 
Kharaitiyat coach Abdelaziz El Amri said his team was hungry for more victories. “The most important thing for us at the moment is to get more points. We were delighted with our first victory. More importantly, we could arrest the slump. The win against Al Gharafa was actually a lifeline for us after losing the first six matches,” he said.
“Now, we are against direct opponents as we face Qatar SC. They had problems in some games, but they cannot be written off. We didn’t deserve to lose six games on the trot. Some of our defeats were accidental. We did not concede any goal for the first time and that itself was a good thing,” El Amri added. 
Qatar SC have only their upset win over Gharafa in the opening week and draw with Al Khor to show for their efforts. Cameroonian star Samuel Eto’o leads Qatar SC’s charge. Al Kharaitiyat will mainly rely on Algerian attacking midfielder Jugurtha Hamroun and Abdulhadi Amin to deliver the goods.