Arabian Gulf League title to be decided on final day after wins for Baniyas and Al Jazira

Jazira maintain one-point lead over rivals with 2-0 win over Al Ain

Al Jazira's Ali Mabkhout, left, is challenged by Al Ain defender Mohnad Salem. Courtesy PLC

Baniyas' rout of Al Dhafra ensured that the Arabian Gulf League title race will go down to the final match of the season as leaders Al Jazira maintained their one-point lead with victory over Al Ain.

Baniyas dominated their hosts from the start and were 3-0 up in 18 minutes thanks to goals from Joao Pedro, Gaston Suarez and Amer Abdulrahman.

Nicolas Gimenez and Ahmed Abunamous burnished the scoreline in the second half to set the Abu Dhabi club up for a must-win game against Al Wahda.

Ali Mabkhout's 24th league goal of thee season and a Milos Kosanovic free kick 10 minutes before time sealed victory for Al Jazira at Mohamed bin Zayed Stadium on Friday.

Al Ain had a golden opportunity to level when they were awarded a penalty in the 78th minute but Kodjo Laba's effort was saved by Ali Khaseif.

“We did exactly what we wanted to do, which was to win the game and maintain the lead from Baniyas,” Kasheif said.

“It was a big effort from the players to win against Al Ain. It was a good game, as anyone would have expected. Wish we can replicate this performance in the final league game against [Khorfakkan] and take the title.”

Sharjah held on to third spot with a 3-0 win over Ajman while Shabab Al Ahli beat Al Wasl by the same score to move up to fourth after Al Nasr were held 2-2 by Al Wahda.

Second-bottom Fujairah played out a stalemate against Khorfakkan to move level with Ajman on 15 points.

Ajman travel to Fujairah in their final game.