The UAE, with a 2-1 home victory over Saudi Arabia, came a tantalising three points closer to their second-placed group rivals on Tuesday as they boosted their chances for automatic World Cup qualification despite having a player sent off late in the match.

After Nawaf Al-Abed's opener for the Green Falcons in the middle of the first half of the match at Abu Dhabi's Hazza bin Zayed Stadium, it took the UAE just two minutes to equalise through Ali Mabkhout.

The UAE's Ahmed Khalil struck the target again 15 minutes into the second half, and the side held off all attempts by the Saudis to equalise.

With only one group match left for the UAE, against Iraq, the side will make the journey without left back Mahmoud Khamees, who was shown a second yellow card in the second minute of extra time.

The White Jerseys raised their tally to 13 points in Group B, trailing three points behind second-placed Saudi Arabia who are equal on points with Australia.

The first and second teams out of the two Asian groups gain automatic qualification to the global footballing spectacle scheduled in Russia for the summer of 2018.

The winner of a match pitting the third-placed teams enter a face-off against a side from the North and Central America and Caribbean qualifiers, so a win over Iraq will give the UAE 16 points, putting them within grasp of a second-placed finish, providing they improve on a two-goal deficit as Saudi Arabia and Australia both have six goals each.