Benfica will continue their pursuit of top spot in the Portuguese Primeira Liga table on Friday, when they welcome Boavista to the Estadio da Luz.
The hosts trail league leaders Sporting Lisbon by a single point in the midst of a four-match winning run in Portugal's top flight, while their visitors climbed back up to ninth spot with a victory of their own at the weekend.
Match preview
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Benfica return to action on Friday with the aim of continuing a fine run of form in their bid to retain the Primeira Liga title this term, having put themselves second at the halfway stage of the campaign with 42 points on the board from their opening 17 outings.
Across those games, the defending champions have picked up 13 victories while only suffering a single defeat, the fewest in the division at this stage, with their lone loss coming on the opening day in August in the reverse fixture away at Boavista despite leading Friday's opponents 2-1 heading into injury time through Angel Di Maria and Rafa Silva.
As Aguias have barely faltered since that disappointment in their curtain-raiser, but after beating capital city rivals Sporting Lisbon to go top of the Primeira Liga in mid-November, they would quickly drop off the summit as a result of back-to-back disappointing draws with Moreirense and Farense.
While failing to regain top spot from Sporting by the halfway stage, Roger Schmidt's side have since been able to maintain a one-point gap to the leaders with four straight victories since, firstly seeing off Braga and Famalicao in December before kicking off the New Year with a 3-0 triumph away at Arouca and most recently beating Rio Ave 4-1 on Sunday, despite falling behind early on, as Di Maria, Antonio Silva, Marcos Leonardo and Joao Mario all got on the scoresheet to wrap up another three-point haul.
Having continued to pile pressure on their rivals and remained within touching distance, Benfica will now go in search of a fifth straight league triumph and an eighth across all competitions to ensure they regain top spot if Sporting slip up in the coming weeks.
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Their visitors, meanwhile, will aim to complete a historic double over the Portuguese giants after that surprise opening-day triumph, in which Bruno Lourenco and Robert Bozenik netted injury-time goals to turn the game on its head and kick off the campaign on the front foot.
Since then, As Panteras have experienced a contrasting first half of the Primeira Liga campaign, as they sit ninth on 20 points at the halfway stage, despite amassing 13 in their opening five games in an almost perfect start.
They were unable to build on that run, though, and went on to endure a dismal run in the following months, going nine league games without a victory and picking up just three points along the way, a run which spelled the end of Petit's tenure, and while that run did stretch to 11 games into the New Year, it was in more encouraging fashion as new boss Ricardo Paiva's second game at the helm ended in a creditable 1-1 draw at home to title-chasing Porto thanks to Lourenco's first-half equaliser.
On the back of that pleasing result, As Panteras were then able to end their 11-match wait for a victory at the weekend, as they travelled to Vizela and dished out a 4-1 beating with a late Samuel Essende consolation being the only blemish after goals from Vincent Sasso, Tiago Morais, Rodrigo Abascal and Bozenik had them four goals ahead.
Now with a degree of renewed confidence having stopped the rot and climbed back into the top half at the halfway mark, Boavista face an unenviable test in their bid to put the winless run behind them and continue their improvement under new management, and they will set out to again defy the odds and come out on top against the defending champions.
Team News
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Benfica continue to deal with several injury issues heading into Friday's game, with defenders Juan Bernat and Alexander Bah set to remain sidelined alongside winger David Neres and attacker Casper Tengstedt, and Roger Schmidt should field a similar starting XI to the one that featured in the 4-1 win over Rio Ave last time out in a 4-2-3-1 shape.
That is despite there being competition for places all over the pitch, with Marcos Leonardo vying to come in and start up front after scoring off the bench in his Primeira Liga debut on Sunday following a January arrival from Santos, while Petar Musa is also battling for the lone striker spot after Arthur Cabral was preferred last time out.
Whichever forward is deployed will likely have support from the trio of Angel Di Maria, Rafa Silva and Joao Mario, who have contributed a combined tally of 29 goals across all competitions so far this term, while key men Joao Neves and Orkun Kokcu are bound to continue their partnership in the engine room with Nicolas Otamendi and Antonio Silva featuring at the heart of a back four.
Boavista will remain without defenders Bruno Onyemaechi and Chidozie Awaziem, with both away in international duty at the Africa Cup of Nations, as well as Cesar, Augusto Dabo, Salvador Agra and Pedro Malheiro due to injury issues.
Their squad will be boosted by the return of Ibrahima Camara, though, after he served a suspension last time out, but he is unlikely to come in from the outset with Paiva instead likely to field an unchanged starting XI from their 4-1 win over Vizela and deploy Sebastian Perez and Gaius Makouta in the engine room and Miguel Reisinho in an advanced role in their 4-2-3-1 shape.
Robert Bozenik will continue to lead the line, having notched up seven goals in 17 Primeira Liga appearances this term, including a brace in their 3-2 win in the reverse fixture, while Bruno Lourenco and Tiago Morais will again play key roles on the wings in a supporting trio.
Benfica possible starting lineup:
Trubin; Aursnes, Silva, Otamendi, Morato; Neves, Kokcu; Di Maria, Silva, Mario; Leonardo
Boavista possible starting lineup:
Goncalves; Santos, Sasso, Abascal, Ferreira; Makouta, Perez; Lourenco, Reisinho, Morais; Bozenik
We say: Benfica 2-0 Boavista
While Boavista managed to get one over Benfica on home turf in August and appear to be improving under Paiva after their dismal run, they face a particularly difficult test in a trip to the capital to take on Benfica on Friday.
As Panteras will not make it easy for the defending champions, but Schmidt's side have the quality to come out on top at the Estadio da Luz and avenge the opening-day defeat, making it 17 league games unbeaten in the process.
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Top tip
Sam Varley
