Singapore football's rising star, Shaiful Esah, puts forward his list of three players who will be key to Thailand's chances.

Kelvin Leong from Singapore

Esah will be hoping to get a spot in Singapore's starting XI when they take on Thailand in a crucial AFC Asian Cup Group E match at the Kallang National Stadium on Saturday.

With all the limelight focused on former Manchester United and England legend, Bryan Robson, who is now the head coach of Thailand, Esah feels that it will be the players who matter when they step over the white line.

The SAFFC left-back has had a trophy-laden season in the S-League and was in superb form when Singapore played Indonesia in a friendly last Wednesday.

The talented defender helped himself to three assists, all from set-pieces, to steer the Lions to a comfortable 3-1 win.

Moving on from that game, Esah knows that the Lions have the advantage when it comes to physique, and reckons his team need to put it to good use.

He said:"We have taller players than Thailand, so we have to make full use of it."

The soft-spoken defender went on to single out the key players from the Thai side.

"Datsakorn Thonglao can control the midfield and spray the passes,

"Their striker, Teerasil Dangda, is a good finisher who has already scored a lot of goals for his national team.

"Finally, Sutee Suksomkit has got very good pace down the left flank." said Esah.

Another player who could prove to be the Tom Yam Brigade's trump card is his club teammate, Therdsak Chaiman.

Esah explained: "Therdsak is a player who can keep the ball and spray the passes around. Both he and Datsakorn have the same playing style and he may come on to replace Datsakorn at some point in the game."

With such a big task ahead, Esah, just like all his national teammates, would like to see a full-house crowd at Kallang, all decked out in red.

"As a player, you need the crowd to push you to perform at a higher level and it also helps when you have huge home support to distract the opponents from their game. Hopefully, Singaporeans will change their minds and come out to support the Lions.

"I believe we as a team are moving up and are on a good run of form. I have confidence in our players that we can reach our goal and make it happen." exclaimed Esah.

With that, Esah walked off with a smile to prepare for the Lions' final training session before for what will be arguably, the biggest game in South-East Asian football come Saturday.

As head coach of Singapore, Raddy Avramovic said in the pre-match press conference.

"This is a game between the top two teams in South-East Asia."

The players are ready to do battle, are you going to pull on your red shirt and be their 12th man?

7.30pm is the time. Saturday is the day. Kallang National Stadium is the place.

You decide.