Benfica will be looking to bounce back from a surprise defeat in their most recent match when they make the trip to Portimonense on Thursday evening.
The Eagles went down 2-1 to bottom-half side Gil Vicente at the weekend, while Portimonense continued their good form with victory at Famalicao.
Match preview
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Benfica had strung together a remarkable six-match winning run in the Primeira Liga without conceding ahead of Saturday's home match with Gil Vicente.
In all competitions, meanwhile, it was seven wins-to-nil on the bounce, making their loss against Ricardo Soares's side all the more incredible.
If the Eagles' title hopes were not already over, they certainly are now given the 12-point margin that they have to make up on leaders Sporting Lisbon.
Jorge Jesus's men were also eliminated from the Europa League by Arsenal at the last-32 stage, so they are focusing solely on the league until their Portuguese Cup final clash with Sporting Braga on May 23.
The top two sides in the Portuguese top flight are guaranteed a place in next season's Champions League group stage, but Benfica also have a six-point deficit to make up on second-placed Porto.
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Benfica are now aiming to avoid successive league losses for the first time since April 2018 when they travel to Estadio Municipal de Portimao on Thursday.
The hosts enter the match on a three-game winning run, the last two of those without conceding, and are exactly midway in the standings.
Beto's goal late in the first half proved enough to see off Famalicao last time out, and Paulo Sergio's charges could win four on the bounce in the Portuguese top flight for the first time ever.
Sixth place is enough for a European spot this season, so Portimonense do still have something to aim for in their remaining five games.
However, with Vitoria Guimaraes six points better off, Portimonense could ideally do with picking up a surprise result in midweek.
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Team News
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Benfica were without Andre Almeida and Andreas Samaris for the defeat to Gil Vicente and have no known fresh injury concerns for this match.
Jesus may look to tweak things following that rare setback, with the likes of Everton Soares, Darwin Nunez, Pizzi, Franco Cervi and Pedrinho pushing for inclusion.
Strike pair Haris Seferovic and Gian-Luca Waldschmidt have 23 goals between them in the league this term and should get the nod up top once again.
As for the home team, they lost Willyan early on in the win at Famalicao, so Pedro Sa is in line for a 10th start of the campaign.
Lucas Fernandes is Portimonense's only other known injury and suspension concern, having also sat out that most recent match.
Beto will again lead the line after scoring at the weekend, but the attacking positions around him are all up for grabs.
Portimonense possible starting lineup:
Samuel; Moufi, Possignolo, Antonio, Cande; Luquinhas, Sa, Dener; Morte, Beto, Fabricio
Benfica possible starting lineup:
Leite; Goncalves, Verissimo, Otamendi, Grimaldo; Rafa, Taarabt, Weigl, Everton; Waldschmidt, Seferovic
We say: Portimonense 1-3 Benfica
These sides have won 11 of their last 14 games between them, though it is Portimonense who have the better record over the past month after Benfica slipped up at the weekend.
The visitors do not lose back-to-back games all that often, however, and we expect their quality to tell in this contest at Estadio Municipal de Portimao.
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 Benfica win with a probability of 57.41%. A draw had a probability of 23.7% and a win for Portimonense had a probability of 18.85%.
The most likely scoreline for a Benfica win was 0-1 with a probability of 12.92%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-2 (11.09%) and 1-2 (9.65%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (11.24%), while for a Portimonense win it was 1-0 (6.55%). The actual scoreline of 1-5 was predicted with a 0.8% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Benfica would win this match.
