Gharib replaced Mohanad Salem in the heart of the Emirati defence for the clash at Canberra Stadium as they look to follow up an impressive 4-1 demolition of Gulf Cup winners Qatar with a second victory.
Bahrain coach Marjan Eid made four changes to his side that were beaten 2-0 by Iran in their opener, with key striker Ismail Abdulatif Hasan among those axed from the 11.
He was joined on the replacements bench by defenders Husain Baba Mohamed, Waleed Al Hayam and midfielder Sami Al Husaini with the more attacking Sayed Ahmed and Abdulwahab Al Malood coming in.
Eid also named Rashed Al Hooti and Mohamed Duaij in his backline in an attempt to nullify dangerous Emirati forwards Ahmed Khalil and Ali Ahmed Mabkhout, who both scored twice in the opening win over Qatar.
A second victory for the UAE would put them on the brink of qualifying for the quarter-finals for just the third time and Ali was already contemplating the knockout stages.
"Our aim is to be first in this group, even though Iran is a very tough team for our final game," the coach said.
"After that, in the quarter-finals all the teams are strong, it wouldn’t matter if we played against Japan or any team, they are all tough.
"But before that, we have to concentrate now on our game against Bahrain."
Bahrain - 1-Sayed Mohamed Abbas; 15-Abdulla Omar, 18-Mohamed Duaij, 2-Mohamed Hasan, 23-Rashed Al Hooti; 4-Sayed Dhiya Shubbar, 7-Abdulwahab Ali Al Safi, 12-Faouzi Aaish, 8-Sayed Ahmed, 9-Abdulwahab Al Malood; 14-Jaycee John Okwunwanne.
United Arab Emirates - 1-Majed Naser; 14-Mohamed Abdelaziz Sanqour, 8-Hamdan Al-Kamali, 23-Mohamed Ahmed Gharib, 3-Walid Abbas; 5-Amer Abdulrahman, 13-Khamis Esmaeel; 7-Ali Ahmed Mabkhout, 10-Omar Abdulrahman, 16-Mohamed Abdulrahman; 11-Ahmed Khalil.
(Writing by Patrick Johnston; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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