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High-flying United Arab Emirates resume their 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign against Lebanon on Thursday at the Zabeel Stadium in Dubai.
The Sons of Zayed stormed through the second round, winning all four of their games. Now they've been drawn in a fairly competitive Group A for the third round, which includes big guns like Iran and South Korea.
Meanwhile, the Cedars scraped through despite losing their last two games, finishing second to South Korea in the previous round.
United Arab Emirates vs Lebanon Head-To-Head
There have been 12 previous clashes between the sides, with the UAE boasting a dominant record of seven wins, losing only once.
That defeat came in a World Cup qualifying match back in 2011, but in their last meeting in 2014, the UAE claimed a 3-1 friendly win.
United Arab Emirates Form Guide (all competitions): W-W-W-W-W
Lebanon Form Guide (all competitions): L-D-W-L-L
United Arab Emirates vs Lebanon Team News
United Arab Emirates
Head coach Bert van Marwijk has named a 27-man squad for the UAE's upcoming games against Lebanon and Syria.
Top-scorer Ali Mabkhout, who's netted 76 times for the country, will lead the line once again. He will hope to bag a few more goals and climb further up the all-time international scoring charts.
Walid Abbas, 36, will captain the side as he inches closer to his century of caps (this will be his 96th cap for the UAE national team).
Injured: None
Suspended: None
Unavailable: None
Lebanon
The Cedars have announced that Nour Mansour tested positive for COVID-19 in the latest round of tests.
The defender joins Mohamed Kdouh, Mohamed Hayek and Ali Daher in quarantine and will subsequently miss the team's double-header.
Injured: None
Suspended: None
Unavailable: Nour Mansour, Mohamed Kdouh, Mohamed Hayek, Ali Daher.
United Arab Emirates vs Lebanon Predicted XI
United Arab Emirates (4-2-3-1): Ali Khasif; Bandar Mohamed, Shahin Abdulrahman, Walid Abbas, Mahmoud Al Hammadi; Majed Hassan, Abdullah Ramadan; Fabio Lima, Ai Salmeen, Khalil Ibrahim; Ali Mabkhout.
Lebanon (4-5-1): Mostafa Matar; Robert Alexander, Kassem El Zein, Joan Oumari, Hussein Zein; Majed Osman, Nader Matar, Mohamad Haider, George Melki, Soony Saad; Hilal El-Helwe.
United Arab Emirates vs Lebanon Prediction
As we saw earlier, the UAE have a good record against Lebanon, while striker Ali Mabkhout's form is just too hot to handle.
Lebanon do not have the firepower to stand against the in-form White Ones, and we expect the UAE to secure all three points.
Prediction: United Arab Emirates 2-0 Lebanon
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