The Cairo giants, who lost 2-1 to Ismaily earlier this week, are currently fourth in the league table after starting 2023 poorly, winning only four league games since the turn of the year.

The champions of the past two editions of the Egyptian league have struggled on the road in 2023, losing six games and held in four.

These poor results have thrown Zamalek, who ended 2022 as league table leaders, to fourth place with 43 points, ten points behind leaders Ahly who still have five matches in hand.

Ironically, Zamalek started to drop points this year after losing 2-1 to Aswan in the reverse game in the Upper Egypt city on 2 January 2023.

After this loss, the White Knights were held twice by Dakhleya and Ittihad of Alexandria respectively before slumping to a couple of defeats against archrivals Ahly and Enppi, dropping 13 out of 15 points.

Their 2-1 victory over Future FC on 29 January came to an end to this catastrophic start of the year.

Zamalek's newly appointed coach Juan Carlos Osorio aims for the game against Aswan to be a restart of the team as they bid to keep their chances alive of reaching a continental competition next season.

Tunisian striker Seif Jaziri, who missed the game against Ismaily due to a muscle injury, has been declared fit for the game against Aswan, while solid defender Mahmoud 'El-Wensh' Hamdi will miss the match after sustaining a serious knee injury and is set to be sidelined for months.

On the other hand, Aswan, who ended a six-game winless streak last week after defeating Masry 3-1, will be looking to maintain their winning rhythm against Zamalek.

They are currently 12th with 31 points and want to earn a positive result to improve their position in the league table.

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