With Joshua King back and firing, Al Khaleej are finally turning draws into wins

Al Khaleej are far from a one-man team, but that one man sure does make a difference.

The player, of course, is Joshua King, who arrived at the club in the summer of 2025 and took the Roshn Saudi League by storm. The former Norway international struck 10 goals in his first 10 games, eventually finishing the season with 20.

The haul placed King in the 2025-26 RSL’s top-five goalscorers, level with SPL Player of the Season Joao Felix, of Al Nassr.

This season, however, has been more challenging for both Al Khaleej and their star striker.

Last term after nine games, Al Khaleej had lost only three times. This time around, they’ve lost just twice.

With one defeat fewer you’d think the Dammam-based outfit would be better placed than 12 months ago, when they sat inside the top six having scored 22 goals.

Under current Saudi Arabia manager Georgios Donis, Al Khaleej were one of the early season surprise packages. So, too, was an on-song King who had rediscovered career-best form.

Fast forward one year, though, and Al Khaleej were winless through the opening eight matchweeks. Their first victory didn’t arrive until last Thursday, in the 2-0 triumph at home to Al Fayha.

Remarkably, Al Khaleej had drawn six times already this campaign - one fewer than the entirety of their 2025-26 season. They’d scored only six goals.

And perhaps King should be viewed as a large part of the reason for that; not because he has been playing poorly, but because he hasn’t been playing much at all.

After scoring against Abha in Matchweek 3 to open his account for the 2026-27 RSL, King was sidelined for four games with a hamstring injury. Upon his return in Matchweek 8, he came off the bench to score at Al Ettifaq in another draw before netting again in a Man of the Match performance against Al Fayha.

In the five games in which King has played this season, Al Khaleej are yet to lose. To underline his importance, he’s scored half of all his side’s goals so far this season.

So his return to fitness couldn’t come at a better time. Indeed, it might just be the catalyst Al Khaleej need to turn things around.

Last season, their ability to convert chances is what rocketed them up the table. In the corresponding period back then, Al Khaleej boasted the league’s second-best conversion rate (19 percent); this season, they have the third worst at 5.8%.

Meanwhile, only RSL new boys Al Faisaly have had fewer attempts on goal this season than Al Khaleej.

That stat alone explains where things have gone wrong this season, much to the lament of new manager Jose Gomes.

“The problem is that we didn’t capitalise on the chances we had after completely dominating the game,” the Portuguese coach said after the 0-0 draw with Al Riyadh.

“We didn’t take enough shots; that’s what was missing. We didn’t translate our dominance into creating a large number of chances.”

There are a multitude of factors as to why that is the case, chief among them the loss of Kostas Fortounis in the summer. The Greek international, now back home at Olympiacos, concluded the 2025-26 RSL with the most chances created (100) of any player in the division.

Coupled with the absence of King for a large chunk of this campaign, and Al Khaleej’s two greatest attacking weapons from last season have been absent.

It’s a rough hand to be drawn for any manager coming into a club, but one that’s easy to diagnose and, Gomes will hope, easy to remedy. That, clearly, starts with the return of King.

It’s no coincidence that, in his first two games back, Al Khaleej have looked a different side. While previously they struggled to create chances and efforts on goal, against Al Ettifaq and Al Fayha, they’ve managed 22 shots combined and an average xG of 2.33.

It helps, also, that summer signing Mateo Benegas got the second in the latter encounter, the Argentine off the mark in only his second RSL appearance.

"All the players have been working very hard and Mateo is one of them," Gomes said following the Al Fayha triumph. "Also Thamer [Al Khaibari] is ready to help us. 

"The thing is, in this group, the atmosphere is amazing. I believe that any player that plays in that position were able to help the team to make something extra.

"So I'm very happy with my players, not only with Mateo, with all the players, the way that they felt, the way that they ran, the way that they showed to everybody that we wanted to win this game. 

“We’ve managed to secure our first victory, and this will give us a huge boost for the upcoming matches.”

As does a fit-again King.

"A very important win," the smiling striker said. "We haven't won a game this season, which was a bit mentally tough for us. Managed to get a few good draws, especially against [RSL champions Al] Nassr before the break. But good to get this win."

King's description of his impudent back-heel goal bodes well, too, for Al Khaleej for the future.

"Just instinct," he said.

It's exactly that attribute Al Khaleej have been lacking.