Bani Yas head coach Luis Garcia has challenged his players to maintain their recent good form as they welcome relegation-threatened Al Dhafra to Bani Yas Stadium.

The Sky Blues have lost just once in their last nine games and the Spaniard has stressed the need to capitalise.

“We have to translate this into the league,” said Garcia. “The players have had some great performances, especially in the last game against Al Shabab, and we have to take advantage of the high confidence after passing to the next round of the President’s Cup.”

Western Knights boss Mohamad Kwid was encouraged by his side’s performance in the 1-0 President’s Cup exit to Al Jazira last time out and says his team can use that spirit to avoid the drop to Division 1 Group A.

“We are satisfied with the performance of our team (against Al Jazira) but defeat in cup is different. We have a big challenge in the league. We need the points in the league and that is our objective,” said the Syrian. “Three points are required for the team to get closer to the higher areas of the league table.”