The Alexandrians suffered a double blow as skipper Shadi Mohamed pulled a hamstring and center-half Youssef Abdul-Rahim injured his knee against Petrojet last week.

"We have a big problem in defense because Shadi and Abdul-Rahim were injured and Ibrahim Al-Shayeb is still unfit," Ittihad boss Taha Basri told FilGoal.com.

Defender Abdul-Rahim, who missed a penalty in Ittihad's 3-1 defeat at Petrojet, could face a long spell on the sidelines as he might have damaged the cruciate ligament.