Languishing in the Brasileiro relegation places, America Mineiro will be desperate for a win against Ceara on Sunday to attempt to escape the drop zone.
While America Mineiro suffered yet another defeat last time out in the league, Ceara dug deep to salvage a point from Flamengo as they played out a 1-1 draw.
Match preview
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Following a good run in Serie B last term, America Mineiro finished in second place to earn promotion to the Brazilian top flight after a three-year absence at this level.
Now plying their trade at the highest echelon of Brazilian football, Coelho are competing with the most formidable teams in the country, and will need to be at their utmost best to contend.
They have been far from convincing this season, having picked up only 15 points from 17 games to occupy 19th place in the standings, but the silver lining for Vagner Mancini's men is that they are only three points adrift of safety.
America Mineiro must begin to find their feet sooner rather than later, perhaps kickstarting a resurgence with an upset this weekend to climb out of the relegation places.
While Coelho create chances with ease, the major problem has been their inability to convert these openings as was evident in their 2-0 defeat to Bragantino last time out, where they had 14 shots on goal but failed to hit the back of the net.
Coming up against this solid Ceara side, America Mineiro cannot afford to be profligate if they are to stand any chance of upstaging the visitors, who are charging for continental qualification this term.
In their entire history, Ceara have never finished higher than seventh in the Brasileiro but are on course to rewrite history this season, as they sit in eighth place with a decent record of 24 points from 17 matches.
Guto Ferreira's men had been on an 11-game unbeaten run before suffering defeat to Corinthians earlier in the month, but they got back on track with a 1-1 home draw against high-flying Flamengo on the last matchday.
Even though Ceara were outplayed by the visitors on the day, they broke the deadlock inside 32 minutes through Vinicius but failed to hold on to their slender lead as Vitinho restored parity in the second half, with both sides ultimately settling for a draw.
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Team News
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Unfortunately for America Mineiro, they will be missing a number of players for this fixture as the likes of Ze Ricardo, Chrigor, Jori, Ale and Leo Passos all tested positive for COVID-19.
Even though Rodolfo failed to find the back of the net last time out, he is expected to lead Mineiro's line once again as he goes in search of his third goal of the season.
There is worry for Vagner Mancini, who will be without Eduardo, Yan Sasse and Ribamar - all of whom are out injured.
Ceara's Vitor Jacare and Joao Ricardo will continue to spend time on the sidelines as they recover from knee problems.
Facing a race against time to be fit for this game, Klaus will be hoping to shake off his shoulder injury to feature here.
America Mineiro possible starting lineup:
Cavichioli; Paulo, Potiguar, Eduardo, Patric; De Carvalho, Juninho; Azevedo, De Souza, Ademir; Rodolfo
Ceara possible starting lineup:
Richard; Pacheco, Otavio, Messias, Fabinho; Oliveira, Sobral; Lima, Vinicius, Lima Morais; Bomfim de Jesus
We say: America Mineiro 0-2 Ceara
We cannot see past a routine win for Ceara, who are in good form at the moment, admitting defeat in only one of their previous 12 league matches.
Also, America Mineiro are without so many players for this fixture, and will have to make do with a depleted squad. We are backing the visitors to carry the day come full time.
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 America Mineiro win with a probability of 36.06%. A win for Ceara had a probability of 33.18% and a draw had a probability of 30.8%.
The most likely scoreline for an America Mineiro win was 1-0 with a probability of 13.84%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (7.14%) and 2-1 (6.98%). The likeliest Ceara win was 0-1 (13.1%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (13.52%). The actual scoreline of 2-0 was predicted with a 7.1% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that America Mineiro would win this match.
