Aiming to stretch their run of games without a defeat to seven matches, America Mineiro play host to Palmeiras at the Arena Independencia on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the visitors have failed to win any of their last four games in all competitions and will be keen to put an end to that dismal run.
Match preview
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Off the back of crashing out to Atletico Mineiro in the semi-finals of the Copa Libertadores, Palmeiras played out a 1-1 draw versus Juventude on Sunday.
Abel Ferreira's men took the lead early on through Guilherme Castilho but were pegged back just shy of the half-hour mark thanks to Danilo.
The Campeao do Seculo remain second in the league standings but are now a whopping 10 points behind Atletico Mineiro with 16 matches left to play.
Following a tough last couple of days, the Brasileiro record winners have an opportunity to bounce back when they take on an opposing side who have won just one of the last 13 meetings between the teams.
Having already claimed a 2-1 triumph back in June, Thursday's visitors set out to complete a league double over their visitors for the second time in three seasons.
America Mineiro ended a run of three consecutive draws by defeating Cuiaba 2-0 at the Estadio Presidente Eurico Gaspar Dutra on Saturday.
Goals in either half from Mauro Zarate and Ademir got the job done for Vagner Mancini's men who cruised to a well-deserved three points.
As a result, the Coelho have now moved four points clear of danger and will aim to continue their surge up the table in the coming weeks.
However, Thursday's hosts have only come out on top in four of their 12 matches on home turf this term, which is an area that needs a significant improvement if they are to retain their top-flight status.
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Team News
Eduardo has missed 13 of his side's 23 outings to date due to a knee problem which is set to keep the defender out of Thursday's contest.
Thirty-year-old Orlando Berrio is also unavailable for the clash as he is yet to recover from a muscle injury, and he is joined on the sidelines by Kawe.
Palmeiras will make the journey to Belo Horizonte without the services of Luan, who is yet to feature for the away side in the 2021-22 campaign.
Willian netted twice in the reverse fixture and will be looking to deliver the goods once again and end a streak of five games without a goal.
America Mineiro possible starting lineup:
Cavichioli; Lopes, Silva, Patric, Bauermann; Ale, Kal, Zarate; Azavedo, Ademir, Daniel
Palmeiras possible starting lineup:
Weverton; Menino, Kuscevic, Gomez, Jorge; Danilo, Rony, Scarpa, Ze Rafael, Wesley; Adriano
We say: America Mineiro 0-2 Palmeiras
The away side have already exhibited their superiority once this season already and have the upper hand heading into this one. We fancy them to come out on top in a relatively comfortable manner.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a America Mineiro win with a probability of 36.08%. A win for Palmeiras had a probability of 34.41% and a draw had a probability of 29.5%.
The most likely scoreline for an America Mineiro win was 1-0 with a probability of 12.69%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (7.35%) and 2-0 (6.94%). The likeliest Palmeiras win was 0-1 (12.31%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (13.45%). The actual scoreline of 2-1 was predicted with a 7.4% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that America Mineiro would win this match.
