Pacos de Ferreira square off against Gil Vicente on Friday looking to extend their Primeira Liga unbeaten streak to five matches.
Meanwhile, Gil Vicente will confirm their place in the Portuguese top flight for another 12 months if they avoid defeat at Estadio Capital do Movel.
Match preview
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Pacos de Ferreira have been far from their best in recent weeks, recording six points from their last four league fixtures.
Nevertheless, it has been enough to take Pepa and his squad to the brink of qualifying for the Europa League ahead of Vitoria de Guimaraes, who must win their remaining three matches to have any chance of fifth spot.
While Pacos de Ferreira may have already sealed that position come kickoff on Friday, Pepa will demand that they focus on defeating their next opponents and Tondela.
Despite scoring in their last four fixtures, Os Castores have still only netted four strikes in their last eight fixtures.
That is partly due to the form of top goalscorer Douglas Tanque, who has failed to find the back of the net since March 20.
At a time when Pacos de Ferreira have gone four matches with suffering defeat, Gil Vicente have posted one win and two draws from their most recent three outings.
The burst of points since the start of May has almost ended any concerns that they would have had about relegation, Gilistas now in a position where avoiding defeat to Friday's hosts or Boavista will be enough to keep them in this division.
Although Ricardo Soares will still have hopes of finishing higher than 10th spot, he will equally be satisfied with their current position, having suffered six defeats in seven after the turn of the year.
Gil Vicente have prevailed in four of their last five away fixtures, which is by far the best record of any team placed below the big three.
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Team News
Pepa will consider handing a recall to Tanque, who could take the spot of Joao Pedro after he failed to impress against Maritimo.
Luther Singh could also come back into the Pacos de Ferreira starting lineup, but the defence and midfield should remain the same.
Barring any late fitness issues, Soares may be prepared to stick with the Gil Vicente XI which earned a draw with Braga.
While Pedrinho and Kanya Fujimoto have spent time in the team this season, they could stay among the replacements for this fixture.
Pacos de Ferreira possible starting lineup:
Jordi; Fonseca, Marcelo, Baixinho, Rebocho; Carlos, Eustaquio, Costa; Singh, Tanque, Amaral
Gil Vicente possible starting lineup:
Denis; Paulinho, Rodrigao, Fernandes, Talocha; Mineiro, Carvalho, Goncalves; Leautey, Lino, Lourency
We say: Pacos de Ferreira 2-1 Gil Vicente
With both teams heading into this contest in good form, we expect a competitive encounter to play out on Friday.
However, with the added incentive of wanting to finish the season comfortably in fifth place, the home team could edge this fixture in the closing stages.
Top tip
Darren Plant
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 Pacos de Ferreira win with a probability of 37.25%. A win for Gil Vicente had a probability of 33.95% and a draw had a probability of 28.8%.
The most likely scoreline for a Pacos de Ferreira win was 1-0 with a probability of 12.27%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (7.69%) and 2-0 (7.08%). The likeliest Gil Vicente win was 0-1 (11.57%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (13.34%). The actual scoreline of 0-2 was predicted with a 6.3% likelihood.
