While Saudi Arabia have reached the FIFA World Cup on five occasions including the most recent edition in Russia 2018, compared to China PR’s solitary appearance in 2002, the head-to-head record in the Asian Qualifiers to the World Cup heavily favour the Chinese who have won four out of the five encounters with the Saudis, with one game ending in a draw back in the Road to France 1998.

Coach Herve Renard’s Saudi Arabia impressed in their most recent outing, brushing aside four-time Asian champions Japan thanks to a second-half goal from substitute forward Firas Al Buraikan, but injury doubts for left-back Yasser Al Shahrani add to a growing list of absences that already features key players such as Salem Al Dawsari and Abdullah Otayf.

Matchday Three finally brought an end to China PR’s 233-minute goal drought as Zhang Yuning opened the scoring against Vietnam. Wu Lei thought he had secured the win with his 75th minute goal, but efforts from Ho Tan Tai and Nguyen Tien Linh inside the last 10 minutes gave the Chinese a scare that was eventually survived thanks to Wu’s second goal of the night deep in added time.

Saudi Arabia v China PR
Venue: King Abdullah Sports City Stadium, Jeddah
Kick-off: 20:00 hours (UTC+3)