The Red Devils saw their closest rivals lose 3-1 at lowly Olympic on Tuesday, which gives them an opportunity to open a five-point gap ahead of next week's top-of-the-table clash.

Ahli, who are unbeaten since last November, are aiming to amass maximum points from their upcoming matches in their quest for a fifth straight title.

"I think the next four games will be crucial to our season. We will be very close to being champions if we got maximum points," said assistant coach Hossam Al-Badri.

"The upcoming match will be very difficult, Contractors are a good side who play fine football, but I am confident our players can deal with that."

Manuel Jose's team are boosted by the return of Mohamed Abou-Treika after he spent more than a month on the sidelines with a knee injury.

But in-form playmaker Ahmed Hassan was ruled out with a minor injury, while center-half Wael Gomaa is suspended after picking up his third yellow card against Masri last week.

Relaxed

On the other hand, Contractors boss Mohamed Radwan is under no pressure when his mid-table side meet the African champions.

"We are all motivated for the clash and over the last few days I've been trying to relax my players because I don’t want them to be tensed," he said.

Contractors are only three points off the relegation zone, but the Cairo club could move up to four spots with a win at Cairo Stadium.

Elsewhere, Ismaili could move second if they beat Gaish away on Wednesday, as the latter are pushing for a safer place in the table, where they lie 13th.

Another team who are vying to take second place from Petrojet are ENPPI, who host strugglers Asyut Petroleum.