Looking to maintain their 100% record in all competitions, Sporting Lisbon welcome Belenenses to the Jose Alvalade Stadium on Saturday.
The visitors are on a run of seven straight losses dating back to a 2-0 defeat against Santa Clara back in May, and they will be aiming to end this poor run of results.
Match preview
© Reuters
Sporting Lisbon made it three wins on the trot across all competitions when they beat Sporting Braga 2-1 at the Braga Municipal Stadium last Saturday.
In an end-to-end affair, Jovane Cabral and Pedro Goncalves scored in either half to put Leoes two goals up before Abel Ruiz grabbed a consolation goal in the 92nd minute.
Prior to that, the reigning champions beat Braga by the same scoreline on July 31 to clinch their ninth Supertaca title before claiming a comfortable 3-0 win over Vizela in their Primeira Liga curtain-raiser six days later.
Sporting Lisbon are currently on a six-game winning streak in all competitions and are unbeaten in their last 10, dating back to a 4-3 loss against Benfica back in May.
Ruben Amorim's side appear set to mount a proper title defence as they already lead the way in the league standings thanks to their superior goal difference.
They will feel confident of maintaining this blistering form as they take on an opposing side who have lost each of their most recent seven outings across all competitions.
Belenenses got underway this season with a disappointing 1-0 defeat against Segunda Liga side Mafra in the Taca da Liga which saw them suffer an early exit from the competition.
O Belem failed to bounce back from that result as they lost their opening two games of the Primeira Liga campaign, including a 2-1 defeat against Maritimo at the Estadio Nacional do Jamor last time out.
Petit's men found themselves two goals down inside the opening quarter of an hour courtesy of strikes from Andre Vidigal and Ali Alipour, but after Alioune Ndour halved the deficit on the stroke of half time, they were unlucky not to have found an equaliser in the second half due to some superb defending by the hosts.
While they will be hoping the third time is the charm, they face the stern test of taking on a rampant Sporting Lisbon side who are unbeaten in their last 11 encounters between the teams and have picked up 31 wins from their last 45.
- W
- W
- W
- W
- W
- W
- W
- W
- L
- L
- L
- L
- L
- L
- L
- L
Team News
© Reuters
Sporting Lisbon will take to the pitch without promising left-back Nuno Mendes, who has been on the sidelines since the 2-1 Super Cup victory over Sporting Braga through an ankle injury.
Brazilian defender Matheus Reis will also play no part in the game having picked up a red card 20 minutes after coming on as a substitute last time out.
With three goals in the opening two games, Pedro Goncalves has been lethal in Sporting Lisbon's impressive start to the season, and we expect the Portuguese to come up trumps once again.
Meanwhile, Petit will be unable to call upon the services of Sandro, who sustained a muscle injury back in July.
Barring any late fitness issues, we expect a similar XI to the one that started the game against Maritimo, meaning that Alioune Ndour and Mateo Cassierra could pair up front for the third game running.
Sporting Lisbon possible starting lineup:
Adan; Feddal, Coates, Inacio; Vinagre, Braganca, Palhinha, Esgaio; Goncalves, Cabral; Paulinho
Belenenses possible starting lineup:
Felipe; Calila, Ribeiro, Phete, Akas, Varela; Boni, Lukovic, Sithole; Ndour, Cassierra
We say: Sporting Lisbon 3-0 Belenenses
Sporting Lisbon have enjoyed a superb start to the season, picking up three wins from their three games in all competitions. In contrast, Belenenses have stumbled into the new campaign, losing each of their three games so far, including a 1-0 loss against second tier Mafra in the Taca da Liga. We are tipping Sporting Lisbon to continue their fine form and claim all three points on Saturday.
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 Sporting Lisbon win with a probability of 69.87%. A draw had a probability of 18.4% and a win for Belenenses had a probability of 11.7%.
The most likely scoreline for a Sporting Lisbon win was 2-0 with a probability of 12.54%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (11.51%) and 2-1 (9.55%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (8.77%), while for a Belenenses win it was 0-1 (4.02%). The actual scoreline of 2-0 was predicted with a 12.5% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted a 2-0 win for Sporting Lisbon in this match.
