Preview: Alverca vs Vitoria de Guimaraes - prediction, team news, lineups

Alverca will be out to make it two wins from two home games when they welcome Vitoria de Guimaraes to the Complexo Desportivo FC Alverca in round seven of Primeira Liga on Sunday.

The home side head into the weekend off the back of a gut-wrenching defeat against Santa Clara while Os Vimaranenses were held to a share of the spoils by Braga at the Estadio Dom Afonso Henriques.

Match preview

Primeira Liga first-timers Alverca were left with a bitter taste of “what could have been” in their bid for a historic second consecutive Primeira Liga victory last Saturday when they fell to a 2-1 loss at the hands of Santa Clara.

After falling behind in the ninth minute courtesy of a penalty strike from Serginho, Lincoln netted in the 19th minute to pull Alverca level, but Brazilian defender Matheus Araujo headed home the winner in the seventh minute of stoppage time.

Prior to that, Custodio Castro’s men recorded their first-ever win in the Portuguese first flight on September 12, when they held on to see out a 1-0 victory over Tondela courtesy of a first-half own goal from defender Emmanuel Maviram.

Having gained promotion from the Segunda Liga last season, when they finished second in the table, it has been a challenging start to the debut campaign for Alverca, who will be looking to begin their turnaround this weekend.

Castro’s side have lost four of their six matches so far — only rock-bottom AVS have suffered more defeats (5) — while claiming one win and one draw to collect four points and sit 15th in the table, only above Nacional, Tondela and AVS.

On the other hand, Vitoria de Guimaraes failed to make their chances count last Saturday as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Braga when the two sides squared off at the Estadio Dom Afonso Henriques.

After Fran Navarro broke the deadlock to hand Braga a 27th-minute lead, Matija Mitrovic netted in the 32nd minute to level matters, but Nelson Oliveira failed to convert his penalty right on the stroke of half time as Braga held on to leave with a point.

This followed a 2-0 victory over Estrela Amadora at the Estadio Jose Gomes on September 14, when Oliveira and Alioune Ndoye netted on either side of the half-time break to hand Os Vimaranenses their first away win of the season.

Vitoria de Guimaraes have picked up two wins and two draws from their six Primeira Liga matches so far to collect eight points and sit eighth in the league table, level on points with ninth-placed Santa Clara.

Alverca Primeira Liga form:

Vitoria de Guimaraes Primeira Liga form:

Team News

Alverca will take to the pitch without the services of Portuguese forward Chiquinho, who has missed the last two games since coming off injured against Benfica on August 31.

Summer signing Leo Chu is yet to feature for the this weekend’s hosts since joining from MLS side FC Dallas due to a severe injury and the Brazilian striker will also play no part in this weekend’s matchup.

As for Guimaraes, Gustavo Silva was subbed off due to an injury midway through the second half against Braga last time out and the 26-year-old forward is a major doubt for Sunday’s clash.

Should he fail to shake off the injury, Guinea-Bissau international Vando Felix will push for his fourth league start, teaming up with Telmo Arcanjo and Oliveira at the attacking end of the pitch.

In defence, we should see an unchanged back four of Miguel Maga, Oscar Rivas, Rodrigo Abascal and Joao Mendes, shielding Colombian goalkeeper Juan Castillo between the sticks.

Alverca possible starting lineup:

Gomes; Naves, Gomez, Martinez; Touaizi, Amorim, Abdulai, Chissumba; Lincoln, Milovanovic, Figueiredo

Vitoria de Guimaraes possible starting lineup:

Castillo; Maga, Rivas, Abascal, Mendes; Mukendi, Mitrovic, Nogueira; Arcanjo, Felix, Oliveira

We say: Alverca 0-2 Vitoria de Guimaraes

While it has been a topsy-turvy start to the campaign for Vitoria de Guimaraes, they will be backing themselves to secure a morale-boosting result against an inexperienced Alverca side, who have struggled to get going in the big leagues.

That said, we predict that Os Vimaranenses will show their upper hand at the Complexo Desportivo FC Alverca and secure their second away win of the campaign.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.