Looking to extend their run of six games without defeat, Braga take a trip to the Estadio Cidade de Barcelos to face Gil Vicente on Monday.
The visitors, in contrast, are without a win in any of their most recent six Primeira Liga outings and will be looking to end this dry spell.
Match preview
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Gil Vicente continued to drop points in the Primeira Liga as they played out a 2-2 draw with Estoril Praia when the sides met at the Estadio Antonio Coimbra da Mota on October 3.
In an action-packed contest, Rui Fonte and Andre Franco netted either side of Samuel Lino's 42nd-minute equaliser to put the hosts ahead heading into the interval before Fran Navarro scored five minutes into the second half to force a share of the spoils.
Ricardo Soares's men are now without a win in any of their last six league outings, picking up three draws and losing three since opening the season with successive victories over Boavista and Portimonense back in August.
This slump in form has seen Gil Vicente drop to ninth place in the Primeira Liga standings, level on nine points with Pacos de Ferreira and Tondela and three points above Santa Clara in the relegation playoff spot.
However, the Gilistas head into Monday's game fresh off the back of progressing into the fourth round of the Taca de Portugal courtesy of an emphatic 5-0 win over Clube Condeixa and head coach Vitor Oliveira will hope that performance can serve as a catalyst for a fine run of form.
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Braga, meanwhile, made it two wins from two in the Europa League when they brushed aside Ludogorets Razgrad 1-0 at the Huvepharma Arena last time out.
Portuguese forward Ricardo Horta continued his fine display in front of goal as he netted the only goal of the game inside the opening seven minutes to condemn the Bulgarian side to a second straight defeat.
Prior to that, Os Arcebispos claimed a 5-0 victory over bottom-tier Moitense to progress into the fourth round of the Taca de Portugal when the sides squared off last Sunday.
Braga now return to the Primeira Liga, where they are on a six-game unbeaten streak, picking up two wins and four draws in that time.
Carlos Carvalhal's side are currently sixth on the log after picking up 13 points from their opening eight games and will be looking to move into the Conference League qualification places with a win on Monday.
They will feel confident of claiming the desired result as they take on an opposing side who they are unbeaten against in each of the last eight meetings between the teams, claiming five wins and three draws in that time.
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Team News
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Joao Afonso remains out of contention for Gil Vicente after the Brazilian midfielder sustained a severe injury in the game against Moreirense back in April.
Boubacar Hanne staked his claim for a place in the XI with a first-half brace in the cup tie versus Clube Condeixa and the 22-year-old could be handed his first league start of the season.
Braga, meanwhile, remain without the services of Portuguese defender David Carmo, who continues his spell on the injury table after sustaining a severe ankle injury that has kept him out of action since February.
Other than that, there are no concerns on the injury front for Os Arcebispos and Carvalhal could name a similar starting XI from the Europa League win over Ludogorets Razgrad last time out.
With his strike in the aforementioned game, Horta has now scored in four of his last five outings in all competitions and we expect the in-form forward to handle business in attack once again.
Gil Vicente possible starting lineup:
Frelih; Talocha, Fernandes, Cunha, Carlos; Pedrinho, Carvalho; Fujimoto; Lino, Murillo, Navarro
Braga possible starting lineup:
Matheus; Tormena, Oliveira, Leite; Fabiano, Mineiro, Musrati, Galeno; Horta, Gonzalez, Medeiros
We say: Gil Vicente 1-3 Braga
Gil Vicente head into the game off the back of an emphatic cup win and will be looking to build on that performance and end their league struggles. However, they square off against a rejuvenated Braga side who are on an impressive run of results in this fixture. We are tipping the visitors to keep the ball rolling and come out victorious in this one.
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 Braga win with a probability of 64.28%. A draw had a probability of 21.8% and a win for Gil Vicente had a probability of 13.93%.
The most likely scoreline for a Braga win was 0-1 with a probability of 14.12%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-2 (13.07%) and 1-2 (9.44%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (10.19%), while for a Gil Vicente win it was 1-0 (5.51%). The actual scoreline of 0-1 was predicted with a 14.1% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted a 0-1 win for Braga in this match.
