Striker Zaki, who has just completed his one-month ban by the club, was tipped to make his comeback against Al-Hodoud.

However, he picked up a thigh injury in training and was ruled out of the match.

Midfielder Abdul-Ghani has failed to recover from injury in time to make Zamalek's squad but manager Ruud Krol will be boosted by the return of Mohamed Aboul-Ella.

The skilful midfielder was sidelined for long period but has been declared fit to return to action along with Tamer Abdul-Hamid, who has also recovered after a lengthy lay-off.

Left-back Khaled Saad has been finally named in the squad as Dutchman Krol was apparently not convinced by the Jordanian's capabilities.

Saad, who has arrived from Faisali in the close season, has not played a single match since making an appearance as a substitute in the Cairo giants' 1-0 defeat to Ismaili in the league opener.

Talented winger Mahmoud Abdul-Razeq 'Shikabala' will miss the game through automatic suspension.

Zamalek's squad:

Goalkeepers: Mohamed Abdul-Monsef, Abdul-Wahed Al-Sayed

Defenders: Ahmed Ghanem, Mohamed Ibrahim, Ahmed Hossam, Beshir Al-Tabie, Mahmoud Fathallah, Yamen ben Zekri, Amr Al-Safti, Khaled Saad, Tarek Al-Sayed

Midfielders: Magdi Attwa, Tamer Abdul-Hamid, Ahmed Magdi, Gamal Hamza, Ahmed Abdul-Raouf, Mohamed Aboul-Ella

Strikers: Sherif Ashraf, Abdul-Halim Ali, Mostafa Gaafar