Obb Deewajin
Football Tribe Thailand
With just four games remaining, newly crown league leaders Chiangrai United face the toughest challenge to their title hopes when they visit Bangkok United.
Beetles head coach Ailton Silva and defender Brinner Henrique was just awarded the coach and player of the month. Their last two Thai league visit to the True Stadium has yielded six points and two clean sheets.
Chiangrai may also have the edge in terms of fitness, as Mano Polking men just played 120 minutes of football only to be knocked out of FA Cup semi-final via penalty shootout. Defender Mika Chunuonsee also suffered an injury that’ll rule him out for the rest of the season in mid-week, joining star-striker Nelson Bonilla in the physio room.
Elsewhere, Muangthong United travels to Sukhothai FC, led by their former boss Pairoj Borwonwatanadilok. The Firebat is winless in their last five, picking up merely four points, and currently equal with Chainat Hornbill FC at 27 points, trailing behind the big bird on head-to-head. Yet Pairoj believes, with three home games remaining, he can work his magic and pull off another miracle survival.
Hot off their demolition of Buriram United, the Kirin lost only once from their last 10 league games and only twice in Alexandre Gama’s 13 matches since taking over from Yoon Jong-hwan. Filipino left-back Daisuke Sato has been solid since his return from injury while Suphanan Bureerat had a decent game last weekend. Tactically, it will be interesting where Pairoj deploys talisman John Baggio in counter-attacking situations.
Two more relegation strugglers who will be looking to ruin the weekends of bigger sides are Chainat Hornbill FC and Chiangmai FC, who are set to face Buriram United and Port FC respectively.