Zob Ahan and Nassaji surprise while big clubs stay below expectations

On Saturday the 19th round of the Persian Pro League continued with five games. It came to surprising victories and struggling capitol clubs in the fight for the top spots of the table. Both Persepolis and Esteghlal could not win their games. We look at how the five games played went.

Despite their clear superiority, Persepolis only collects one point

In the battle for the title, Persepolis lost important points away at Padideh Khorasan. Although the team of coach Yahya Golmohammadi was clearly the better team away at Padideh, the game ended in a 1-1 draw. Our live game statistics and analysis of Overlyzer also clearly shows that the away team should have won the game. 63% possession of the ball, a total of 17 shots in the direction of the goal and 10 corners speak for themselves. However, Padideh was able to score a 1-0 lead through Amin Ghaseminejad just before the break, which made the game even more difficult for Persepolis. Because of their lead Padideh was able to remain inactive in the second half and concentrate on defensive work. Milad Sarlak equalized after 69 minutes, but after that Persepolis couldn't score any more despite their clear superiority. Persepolis has only won two out of nine away games and has drawn six times.

Esteghlal not compelling enough against Paykan

Esteghlal, currently third in the Pro League, only played a draw as well: In the home game of the capital club against Paykan no goals were scored. In contrast to Persepolis, Esteghlal didn't play convincingly either. Farhad Majidi's team also had a lot of possession, but wasn’t able to work out too many chances. Esteghlal only shot on goal three times in a generally rather unattractive game. Even if they were the better team compared to Paykan for practically the entire duration of the game, they could never build up explosive phases of pressure or force their opponents to make mistakes over a longer period of time. The 0-0 is the logical consequence.

Zob Ahan celebrates an important victory

On the other hand, Zob Ahan was able to achieve an important success in the fight against relegation. The 1-0 win over Sanat Naft was the second home win in a row for the fourteenth in the Pro League. Before that, the team had not won eight home games in a row. Like Esteghlal's 0-0 against Paykan, Zob Ahan's win was not a footballing treat and the game was primarily characterized by tactics and physical factors. In the 38th minute, however, Farshad Mohammadi scored a ‘lucky punch’ for his team, which could be very precious in the fight against relegation. It was also positive that the hosts hardly let Sanat Naft come into play. The guests only fired one shot in the direction of the goal and could not earn something out of their five corners.

Exciting battle for relegation: Nassaji also wins

The home win wasn’t the biggest of reliefs for Zob Ahan, because the biggest competitor in the relegation battle, Nassaji Mazandaran, also won surprisingly. Away at Naft Masjed Soleyman, who was actually an unpleasant opponent in home games recently, they managed to bring home a 2-0 win thanks to goals from Hossein Zamehran and Reza Dehghani. It was curious that the two goals came at times when Nassaji was not doing well. The graphic shows that the greatest pressure phase in the first half was not converted into goals and that the home team was able to free itself a little in the second half. But: If you're sitting deep in the back of the table, it doesn't have to matter how games are won.

No goals at Tractor Sazi against Mes Rafsanjan

The few people inside the stadium saw no goals in the duel between the fifth and the eighth. In general, the game between Tractor Sazi and Mes Rafsanjan was a rather boring affair, in which both teams only collected nine goal attempts overall. In this game it was clear that there wasn't much at stake for either team and that there was generally no great pressure in the air. The uneventful game and also the result were the logical consequences of it.