Fading European hopefuls Santa Clara will welcome Nacional to the Estadio de Sao Miguel for their gameweek 27 Primeira Liga fixture on Sunday.
The hosts head into this contest off the back of a 1-0 win against Gil Vicente, while the visitors will be looking to make it two wins on the bounce for the first time since January.
Match preview
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Santa Clara earned a 1-0 win over Gil Vicente in their last league outing at the Estadio Cidade de Barcelos to snap a four-game winless run.
The hosts have amassed 43 points from 26 fixtures, leaving them fifth in the standings, a place and 10 points adrift of Sporting Braga, who occupy the Conference League spot.
The Azoreans were only five points behind Braga after gameweek 21, but their recent slump, which saw them win only one in the last five league matches, negatively impacted their quest for European football.
Their struggle lately has been down to their recent abysmal attack, failing to score in three of the last five matches, while they only managed to find the back of the net once in both of their last two outings.
Ahead of this contest, the hosts will have revenge on their minds, having suffered successive losses to the visiting side in back-to-back league encounters.
While the away side have proven to be tough customers, the Azores-based outfit can bank on their home form, which saw them win seven of 13 fixtures on their patch, with the other results being two draws and four losses.
A win for the home side will guarantee them their first Primeira Liga victory over Sunday’s opponents since April 11, 2021.
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Meanwhile, Nacional will head into this match off the back of a 3-1 triumph over Casa Pia in their last league outing.
The win took the visitors to 11th in the standings with 29 points from 26 matches, five places and six points above the relegation playoff spot.
While there is no danger of an immediate demotion to the second tier, the visitors will be desperate to put more distance between themselves and the drop zone.
However, their form on the road leaves much to be desired, as they only managed a solitary win in their last 21 top-flight fixtures away from home.
That said, they will fancy their chances against the hosts, as they ran out 2-0 winners in the reverse fixture in November.
Team News
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Vasco Matos has almost a fully fit squad to choose from on Sunday, but Pedro Jose Pacheco is out with a knee injury, while Wendell Silva is on the mend from an ankle injury, ruling both of them out of Sunday’s clash.
Vinicius Lopes and Gabriel Silva are the main contenders to start in the wide areas, although Ricardinho is also an option.
Elsewhere, Miguel Baeza has been on the sidelines for a few weeks with a muscle injury, making him doubtful for Tiago Margarido‘s side.
In his absence, Chiheb Labidi should step in and take his position in the middle of the park.
Meanwhile, Jose Gomes is available for selection again, so he is likely to be reinstated into the starting XI.
Santa Clara possible starting lineup:
Batista; Rocha, Lima, Venancio; Firmino, Nunes, Ferreira, Soares; Lopes, Costa, Silva
Nacional possible starting lineup:
Franca; Garcia, Vitor, Gomes, Ulisses; Soumare; Labidi, Esteves; Teodora, Isaac, Boia
We say: Santa Clara 1-0 Nacional
Both sides head into this contest desperate for points in pursuit of different aspirations, with the end of the current campaign drawing closer.
Although Nacional have had the better of the hosts in recent meetings, the away form of the visitors could be their undoing this encounter. Therefore, we are backing Santa Clara to claim a narrow 1-0 win.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
