Rock bottom Ittihad will be aiming for full points when they host out-of-form Zamalek in the Alexandria on Wednesday. The league strugglers are managed by former Zamalek star Taha Basri, who has already upset the Whites this season, when he led Ismaili to a 1-0 victory in the opening day at Cairo Stadium. Basri is yet to register a victory with his new team though, but the former ENPPI tactician hopes to clinch all three points against Ruud Krol's team. "We are playing to win, I think we have no option but to win our upcoming few games in order to survive," he told FilGoal.com. "It will be important to score early against Zamalek, but we know we are facing a tough side."
Influential Zaki missing The Alexandria giants will be without striker Mohamed Sharaf, who has a hamstring injury. As for Zamalek, a victory would be crucial for them especially after close rivals Ismaili, Al-Gaish and Petrojet failed to win last week, while the Whites edged Baladeya 1-0. Zamalek could make a huge step from fifth place to second if last week's scenario was repeated. However, the Cairo club will be missing star striker Amr Zaki, who has a knee problem, in addition to Tamer Abdul-Hamid and goalkeeper Abdul-Wahed Al-Sayed. Dutchman Krol also omitted trio Khaled Saad, Alaa Abdul-Ghani and Mostafa Gaafar for his 18-man squad.
