Perspolis preparing for two crucial League games

PLDC - It has been more than 3 years since the Red fans of the capital have seen their team sit at the top of the Pro. League table and since then, very uncharacteristically of them, Persepolis has not lead the table for even a day.

This year however, Denizli's men, under the reformed Perspolis, Model '85, are hoping for playing for the championship and so far the team has showed signs of it by playing attractive attacking-minded football.

The Reds though are facing a difficult week as they will face PAS Tehran, last season's runner's up on Friday, and a week later the Reds will be playing their arch rival, Esteghlal-Tehran, the current leaders of the IPL, and the defending champs.

It is certainly a make-or-break week for Perspolis as 6 points from the next two matches will most likely see the Reds sit at the top after 85 weeks of Football action in the Pro League. As optimistic as that sounds, the men in Red have both the quality and the motivation of achieving that even though the latest injuries have limited Denizli's options to field his strongest team.

Karim Bagheri is out of this Friday's game against Pas as he is recovering from a back injury, while the creative attacking middle-fielder, Hussain Badamaki suffered a rib injury last week in the goal-less draw against Sepahan and he is likely to miss the show down against PAS.

On a positive note though, Asadi is expected to be available as he has recovered from an illness. However, all the named players are expected to recover for the game against Tehran's Blues, even though there are rumors on Bagheri's condition and that he might be out for at least a month!

Whether Mustafa Denizli will have his usual starters available to him or not is still in question, but he knows that he is not left with much choice but to field an attacking minded team for the upcoming two games and hope for 6 points, or else, Perspolis will have to continue playing catch-up for the rest of the season as the Reds will fall behind if they don't achieve their objective against PAS and Esteghlal Tehran.

Perspolis is scheduled to face PAS in Azadi stadium on Friday at 14:30 PM Tehran time as the IFF has so far announced the same time for the derby on the following Friday in Azadi.

Currently Esteghlal leads the table with 14 points and has a game in hand, while Saipa, Esteghlal Ahvaz, Perspolis and Sepahan fill in the 2nd through 5th spots.

Posted By: Armin A.