Famalicao will be seeking to continue their surge to the top half of the Primeira Liga standings when they welcome Santa Clara to the Estadio Municipal de Famalicao on Saturday.
The hosts could also complete an impressive league double over Os Acoreanos after claiming a 2-0 victory when the sides squared off back in October's reverse fixture.
Match preview
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Famalicao's blistering run of results took a slight halt last weekend when they fell to a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Vitoria de Guimaraes at the Dom Afonso Henriques.
After taking the lead in the opening six minutes through Pepe's opener, Oscar Estupinan restored parity on the stroke of half time before 26-year-old forward Rochinha scored two minutes after the interval to turn the tie around.
While this was Vitoria de Guimaraes first victory in four outings, the result saw Famalicao's three-game winning streak come to an end after they saw off Moreirense, Maritimo and Tondela, while scoring seven goals and conceding one in that time.
With 26 points from 25 games, Rui Silva's men are currently 12th in the Primeira Liga standings, level on points with Boavista, but could move level on points with Saturday's visitors in the top half of the table with all three points on Saturday.
Having won each of the last three meetings between the sides and five of their last six since 2019, Famalicao will feel confident of coming away with the desired result.
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Santa Clara, on the other hand, returned to winning ways in style as they comfortably saw off Vizela 3-1 at the Estadio de São Miguel.
After going two goals down in a two-minute spell through a 66th-minute own goal from Bruno Wilson and Crysan's seventh strike of the season, Kiko Bondoso pulled one back for the visitors in the 82nd minute, but substitute Rui Costa scored in the 90th minute to restore the hosts' two-goal advantage.
Prior to that, Santa Clara, who are 10th in the league standings, were on a run of four games without a win, claiming three draws and losing one in that time.
While manager Mario Silva will hope his side can build on their win over the Vizelenses, they have struggled to get going on the road, managing just one win from their last 10 games away across all competitions.
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Team News
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Famalicao will still be missing a few key players through injuries as the likes of Diogo Figueira and Ruben Lima continue their spells on the sidelines.
They are joined on the Vila Nova injury table by Spanish youngster Ivan Jamie after the 21-year-old came off injured in January's game against Arouca.
Ivo Rodrigues missed the clash with Vitoria de Guimaraes last time out after coming off just 33 minutes into the game against Tondela on February 26 and the 26-year-old remains out of contention.
Santa Clara, on the other hand, will take to the pitch without the services of Portuguese midfielder Costinha, who has been sidelined since last August through an Achilles tendon injury.
The duo of Mansur and Hidemasa Morita are back available for selection after sitting out the last match through a suspension for both receiving their marching orders in the game against Braga back in February.
Famalicao possible starting lineup:
Junior; Nascimento, Penetra, Ricceli, Marin; Pepe, Assuncao, I Rodrigues; Teixeira, B Rodrigues; Banza
Santa Clara possible starting lineup:
Pereira; Mansur, Tassano, Villanueva, Ramos; Carvalho, Ricardinho; Crysan, Lincoln, Mohebi; Costa
We say: Famalicao 2-2 Santa Clara
Despite the defeat against Vitoria de Guimaraes, Famalicao have enjoyed a fine run of games in recent weeks and will be delighted with their turnaround so far. Santa Clara have also shown strength since the turn of the year, losing just once in nine games. While Saturday's matchup promises to be an exciting one, we predict both sides will settle for a share of the spoils.
Top tip
Joshua Ojele
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 Famalicao win with a probability of 57.46%. A draw had a probability of 24.1% and a win for Santa Clara had a probability of 18.42%.
The most likely scoreline for a Famalicao win was 1-0 with a probability of 13.66%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (11.45%) and 2-1 (9.52%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (11.34%), while for a Santa Clara win it was 0-1 (6.77%). The actual scoreline of 0-0 was predicted with an 8.1% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole correctly predicted a draw in this match.
