Lebanon started aggressively and found the opening goal in the 11th minute, Sara Issa climbing highest to nod home a corner kick with Gaelle Abou Malhab’s long range strike doubling their advantage eight minutes later.

Kuwait had no answer to Lebanon’s intensity, conceding again in the 24th minute when Yasmin Habbal ghosted into the box to sidefoot past Salma Aljouhar with the goalkeeper then deceived by the bounce of the ball three minutes later as Abou Malhab’s strike from an acute angle slipped past her.

Lebanon added to their tally seconds into the restart, Issa dribbling away from her marker before rolling a shot into the bottom corner before completing her hat-trick in the 55th minute, stroking home after a melee in the box.

Additional strikes late on from Angy Boustany (81st), Yara Geitani (83rd) and Calina Osman (90th+1) capped a sparkling Lebanon performance and Joseph Mouawad’s side will look for another win when they take on Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.

IR Iran 2-0 Saudi Arabia
A balanced start to the match saw limited chances created, Saudi Arabia's Danah Aldhuhiyan skewing a shot wide before Iran's Tania Ghorbani's 30-yard lob sailed just beyond the bar.

With both sides cancelling each other out, the game called for a moment of ingenuity and it came in the form of Fatemeh Lotfadeh who surged into the Saudi Arabia box only to be brought down with Yasna Jarfarnia converting past Dima Shaikh for the opener.

Iran had an opportunity to increase their lead a minute into the restart but Tanarom Ansari fired straight at Shaikh but they came good two minutes later after a similar saw Ghorbani slotting home with ease.

Saudi Arabia were given a lifeline in the 68th minute when Iran goalkeeper Elina Shahbazi handled the ball outside of her box and was shown the red card but despite the numerical advantage, were unable to salvage anything from the game.

Next up for Iran are Kuwait on Wednesday while Saudi Arabia face another test in the shape of an impressive Lebanon.