Having lost their five Primeira Liga games to start the season, SC Farense will be desperate for a morale-boosting result when they play host to Arouca on Sunday.
The Arouquenses journey to the Estadio de Sao Luis without a win in any of their last five away matches since beating Braga 3-0 on April 6 and will head into the weekend looking to end this dry spell.
Match preview
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Farense were left empty handed yet again as they suffered a 2-1 defeat against Porto when the two sides squared off at the Estadio do Dragao last Sunday.
Following a goalless first half, the game sparked into life after the break as Wanderson Galenon and Tomane scored for either side within six minutes of the restart before Samuel Omorodion struck in the 75th minute to hand Porto all three points.
Jose Mota's men have suffered five consecutive defeats to start the new Primeira Liga campaign and have lost each of their last seven outings in the league, a run stretching back to a 3-2 win over Estoril Praia on May 5.
Having secured a fifth-placed finish last season, the Leoes de Faro's underwhelming start to the campaign has been owing to their struggles at the defensive end of the pitch, where they have conceded 12 goals already, three more than any other side in the division.
Next up for Farense is the challenge of going up against an opposing side who are unbeaten in four of their previous five encounters, picking up two wins and two draws since October 2018.
Like this weekend's hosts, Arouca continues to struggle for results in the new campaign as they fell to a 3-0 loss against Sporting Lisbon at the Estadio Municipal de Arouca.
The front three of Pedro Goncalves, Francisco Trincao and Viktor Gyokeres put the home side to the sword as they each found the back of the net to cap off an impressive team display.
Gonzalo Garcia's side have now lost all but one of their opening five games this term — conceding eight goals and scoring just twice — with a 1-0 victory over newly-promoted Nacional on August 25 being the exception.
While Arouca will be looking to find their feet this weekend, they will need to be at their best at the Estadio de Sao Luis as they have failed to win any of their last five Primeira Liga away matches, losing three and claiming two draws since April's 3-0 victory over Braga.
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Team News
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Farense will head into the weekend without the services of 21-year-old Kaique Pereira, who has been out of action since picking up a forearm injury back in July.
He is joined on the Leoes de Faro's injury table by Brazilian goalkeeper Luiz Felipe, who continues his lengthy spell on the sidelines after picking up a severe injury back in February.
As for Arouca, Mota will be unable to call upon the defensive duo of Nino Galovic and 28-year-old Quaresma Correia, who are currently recuperating from knee and muscle injuries respectively.
Jose Fontan, who completed a summer move from Celta Vigo, adds to the Arouquenses' defensive crisis after coming off injured against Sporting Lisbon last time out.
Ivory Coast midfielder Kouassi Eboue is yet to feature this season after coming off with a muscle injury against Vitoria Guimaraes on May 18 and the 26-year-old will also play no part in this weekend's matchup.
SC Farense possible starting lineup:
Velho; Pastor, Jorge, Moreno, Silva; Barbosa, Poloni, Falcao, Menino; Tomane, Merghe
Arouca possible starting lineup:
Mantl; Esgaio, Dante, Lamba, Fontan; Simao, Fukui; Jason, Morozov, Loum; Rodrigues
We say: SC Farense 1-1 Arouca
Having stumbled into the new campaign, Farense and Arouca will head into the weekend looking to secure a morale-boosting result and we anticipate an end-to-end affair at the Estadio de Sao Luis. However, both sides are evenly matched on paper and we predict that they will cancel out each other's efforts.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Joshua Ojele
