Dubai: Both Al Nasr and Al Wahda managers Ivan Jovanovic and Javier Aguirre head into Friday’s crunch game in Abu Dhabi from 5pm knowing defeat could end in their sacking.

Al Nasr are on a run of three straight defeats — to Al Ahli, Al Nasr and Al Ain — and sit ninth in the table on three points with just one win over Al Dhafra in the first four matches. Meanwhile, Al Wahda are eighth on five points. The Clarets started the season with draws to Hatta and Al Jazira, beat Al Dhafra before losing to Al Wasl.

Sacking either manager would be hugely unfair as, since joining in 2013, Jovanovic ended his side’s 25-year wait for silverware with three cup wins and got them as far as the quarter-finals of the Asian Champions League for the first time in their history.

The Serbian’s current predicament hasn’t been helped by the fact that new Brazilian striker Wanderley Santos was suspended for assuming the club’s lone Asian player role (every club is allowed three foreigners and one Asian) by playing on an alleged fake Indonesian passport.

Such administrative issues would have had little to do with the coach, yet he has been the one forced to start the season without a foreign striker.

Likewise, Aguirre’s potential sacking would also be uncalled for, as since joining in 2015 the Mexican has led the club to third last season and won the League Cup.

“I’m used to this pressure. Pressure is always in your job, it is normal,” said Aguirre. “The game here is the same as it is anywhere. If you are not winning, if you are not at the level of the expectations of the owners or the fans, you are the first to come under scrutiny.

“This is the risk of my job. In any coaching job in the world if you lose two or three games in a row everyone starts to get nervous, but this is part of the game and I know the rules.

“I have to focus on the next game. I have to put all my energy into this. I can do nothing else. I can’t control all the rumours surrounding me, the only thing I can do is put my best 11 on the field and try to win the game.”

Jovanovic took a similar stance.

“It’s not the first time we’ve felt pressure, we’ve had pressure since the start of the season and it’s absolutely normal to have pressure and accept it.

“In football when things go well everything is nice and everyone is pleasant and together, but when things are not good that’s when you need everyone to stay together to get out of a difficult situation. If a team is really together you see it when things get difficult not just when things go well.”

In reference to a vote of confidence from the chairman and rumours linking Romanian coach Dan Petrescu to his job, Jovanovic added: “I cannot make any comments on what the chairman’s said, but regarding the rumours, that’s normal for a coach, it’s part of my life.”

Al Nasr haven’t beaten Al Wahda in three years, but Jovanovic said: “We are not looking at statistics or tradition, we are looking at this game to get back into a good position in the league.”