"Our league campaign is at a crossroads now; we will either stay in contention (for the title) or stay away from the race," he told FilGoal.com.

"All teams are close to one another now and their levels of performance are similar too."

Ismaili, who beat title holder Ahli 3-1 in their last match, lie fourth in the league tabel on 19 points, one behind third-placed ENPPI and three ahead of seventh-placed Masri.

"We sat down with all our players and told them not to think of games as easy or difficult, because in all cases our aim is to claim the three points," Al-Gamal said.