Football Bet of the Day: Back the goals in Saudi Pro League relegation decider

The final round of games from the 2023/24 Saudi Professional League season take place on Monday evening, with still so much to decide at the bottom end of the table. Al Hazm have been relegated, but two more teams must join them.

Four sides are still in danger of the drop, and two of them - Al-Tai FC and Al-Akhdoud - face off against each other in my football bet of the day for Monday, May 27, with at least one certain of going down.

Heading into Monday's final round of fixtures, Al-Akhdoud are 17th in the 18-team Saudi Professional League, one place and one point behind Al-Tai, with both teams on course to join Al Hazm in the Saudi First Division League next season.

Abha (15th) and Al-Riyadh (14th) are just a point ahead of Al-Tai and both are also still in danger of relegation ahead of games with Al Hazm (A) and Al-Khaleej (A) respectively.

The task is simple for Al-Akhdoud - they must win and hope one of Abha or Al-Riyadh drop points. If they finish level on points with either, Al-Akhdoud will finish higher due to a superior head-to-head record against the former, and a superior goal difference against the latter.

Al-Tai, meanwhile, can secure safety with a point on Monday, provided Al-Riyadh loses to Al-Khaleej, but if they win, Al-Tai have to better Abha's result against Al Hazm.

As such, both Al-Tai and Al-Akhdoud must be going all out to win at the Prince Abdul Aziz bin Masaad Stadium in Ha'il, which should lend itself to an exciting encounter.

 There was just a solitary goal in December's reverse fixture in Najran as Al-Akhdoud won 1-0 courtesy of a 56th-minute strike from Florin Tanase, but the stakes are much higher this time around, and both sides must 'go for it'.

Al-Tai's last couple of games have certainly been eventful, with a 3-1 home win over Al-Fateh followed by a reversal of that scoreline at champions Al-Hilal last time out. Other high-scoring games they have been involved in this calendar year include defeats to Al-Ahli (1-4), Al-Nassr (1-5) and Al-Taawon (2-3).

Al-Akhdoud have drawn 1-1 in each of their last two games against Al-Ettifaq and Al-Wehda but were involved in a thrilling, but ultimately disappointing, 3-2 defeat to Al-Nassr prior to them.

They did beat Abha 4-0 at home on April 27, however, and have been involved in four other matches with at least four goals scored in 2024.

I wouldn't be surprised to see a slow start to Monday's game, but one goal - even one from the other two matches involving relegation-threatened sides - should bring it to life, and the second half in particular could see a lot of action.

In 14-goal Bernard Mensah, the hosts have a prolific scorer and they will believe that can help them edge the contest to give themselves a chance of survival.

You can read all our latest Football Bets of the Day at our dedicated Betfred Insights content hub.