Preview: AVS vs Santa Clara - prediction, team news, lineups

The latest round of the Portuguese Primeira Liga fixtures throws up a relegation six-pointer clash between AVS and Santa Clara at the Estádio do CD Aves on Sunday, with both sides fighting to preserve their status in the Portuguese top division.

With only one victory after 25 league fixtures, the hosts are neck-deep in relegation trouble, and an imminent return to the second division seems like a matter of time, as they are currently bottom of the standings, while the travelling side will be looking to stave off the threat of demotion by building on the victory in their last outing.

Match preview

AVS have had a season to forget after 25 league outings, as they have only managed to record one win in the campaign so far, a run which leaves them scrambling to preserve their top-flight status, two years after they secured promotion to the Primeira Liga.

With only nine fixtures remaining to be decided in the current season, fans of the home side would have lost hope of preserving their top-division status, as it will take an extraordinary run and other results going their way to beat the drop.

Despite the appointment of Joao Henriques in December, not much has changed for the hosts, although their solitary victory, a 3-0 win over Estoril in the middle of February, came under his reign.

The Vila das Aves side have struggled at both ends of the pitch, having scored only 18 times in the campaign, a tally which is the third lowest in the league, while they have been breached a league-high 54 times.

Going forward, 10 of those 18 goals have come at home, but a run of four league fixtures without finding the back of the net is a conundrum, and Henriques will be sweating on the creation of chances and the finishing of his charges.

Meanwhile, Santa Clara ended an 11-game run without a victory when they defeated Vitória Guimarães in their last league outing.

That win earned them their fifth victory of the 2025–26 season, but it was not enough to take them out of the relegation play-off spot.

Currently 16th in the standings and level on 22 points with Nacional, who sit a place above the relegation zone, the visitors still have a good chance of moving out of the drop zone after the latest round of matches.

After a fifth-placed finish in the previous season, fans would have expected the Azoreans to build on that impressive performance in their first season back in the big time, but the visitors have disappointed this term.

Now focus will be on avoiding the drop, but with a handful of matches before the end of the season, the visitors have to start recording favourable results to help their bid to stay up

AVS Primeira Liga form:

AVS form (all competitions):

Santa Clara Primeira Liga form:

Team News

AVS will enter this fixture with minimal injury issues, meaning that the hosts will have an almost fully fit squad to choose from when they welcome fellow strugglers Santa Clara.

Frenchman Antoine Baroan is out with a broken leg, while Guillem Molina is sidelined with a broken fibula, ruling both of them out of the manager’s plans for this weekend.

That said, not much is expected to change in terms of playing personnel for the hosts, and considering that, Tomane and Duarte are expected to lead the line for the home side.

Like the hosts, Santa Clara also have a healthy squad, with only José Tavares out of the reckoning, as he is suspended due to the accumulation of yellow cards.

Left-back Matheus Araujo is currently recuperating from a cruciate ligament injury, which has kept him out of the side, and he is not expected to be included in the travelling party.

Other than that, Armando Goncalves Teixeira, also known as Petit, has the rest of his squad available ahead of this fixture.

AVS possible starting lineup:

Adriel; Rivas, Paulo Vitor, Devenish, Mateus Pivo; Mendonca, Roni, Algobia; Duarte, Tomane, Akinsola

Santa Clara possible starting lineup:

Gabriel Batista; Lucas Soares, Venancio, Lima, Guilherme Romao; Serginho, Ferreira, Gustavo Klismahn; Vinícius Lopes, Fernando, Gabriel Silva

We say: AVS 1-1 Santa Clara

Both sides have been terrible in the current campaign and are staring relegation in the face. Going into this encounter, the two teams will be desperate to get a win on the board, as they bid to beat the drop, but their form leaves much to be desired, with neither side capable of boasting a winning edge; hence, we predict that this match will end in a 1-1 draw.

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