Boavista and Estoril Praia draw the curtain on round seven of the Portuguese Primeira Liga when they go head to head at the Estadio do Bessa on Monday.
The hosts head into the game fresh off the back of a Taca da Liga opening-day victory, while the visitors will be looking to bounce back to winning ways after suffering their first league defeat last time out.
Match preview
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Boavista saw their run of four games without defeat come to an end last Monday when they were beaten 3-1 by high-flying Benfica at the Estadio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica.
Darwin Nunez and Julian Weigl scored either side of Gustavo Sauer's 32nd-minute equaliser to hand As Aguias a 2-1 lead heading into the interval before Nunez capped off a stellar individual performance with his second goal of the game shortly after the hour mark.
That was a third consecutive game in which Os Axadrezados failed to pick up a win after they were involved in a share of the spoils against Vizela and Portimonense in their two games leading up to the defeat.
However, Boavista returned to winning ways three days later when they edged out 10-man Pacos de Ferreira 2-1 in their Taca da Liga Group C curtain-raiser at the Estadio Capital do Movel.
Joao Pedro Sousa will now hope his side can build on that performance and arrest their slump in form in the league against an opposing side who have picked up four wins and three draws from the last 11 meetings between the teams since 2009.
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Estoril Praia, on the other hand, were denied a fourth win on the trot when they fell to a narrow 1-0 defeat at the hands of reigning champions Sporting Lisbon last Sunday.
The newly-promoted side, who have already made themselves at home in the big league, put on a solid defensive performance, but Manchester City loanee Pedro Porro broke the deadlock from the penalty spot in the 67th minute to hand them their first defeat of the season.
Prior to that, Bruno Pinheiro's men picked up four wins from their opening five games, with the goalless draw against Vitoria de Guimaraes on August 13 being the only exception.
With 13 points from 18 available, Estoril Praia are currently fifth in the Primeira Liga table, five points and three places above Monday's hosts, and the impressive start to the season has been owing to their defensive sturdiness as they have shipped just four goals so far.
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Team News
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Sousa will be unable to call upon the services of defender Reggie Cannon, who picked up an injury while on international duty against Mexico back in August.
Veteran midfielder Javi Garcia is also out of contention after missing the last three games through an injury he sustained at Vizela a little under one month ago.
Tiago Ilori is another name on the Boavista injury list, while Benfica loanee Ilija Vukotic, who was unable to face his parent club last Monday, is expected to return to the fold for his fourth league appearance this term.
Meanwhile, Estoril Praia have no concerns on the injury front, and, following his side's resilient display against the reigning champions last time out, we expect Pinheiro to stick with a back four of Carles Soria, Patrick, Lucas Africo, Joaozinho.
However, Portuguese goalkeeper Daniel Figueira faces the risk of a one-game suspension after picking up his fourth yellow card of the campaign in the aforementioned game.
Boavista possible starting lineup:
Bracali; Nathan, Porozo, Abascal; Malheiro, Makouta, Perez, Hamache; Njie, Musa, Sauer
Estoril Praia possible starting lineup:
Figueira; Soria, Patrick, Africo, Joaozinho; Geraldes, Gamboa, Franco; Chiquinho, Franco, Lourenco
We say: Boavista 1-1 Estoril Praia
Estoril Praia will head into the game seeking an immediate response to suffering their first defeat of the season last time out, and so far, they have shown that they have what it takes to compete in the top flight and will fancy their chances against an out-of-sorts Boavista side.
The hosts picked up a morale-boosting cup win in midweek, but considering their recent struggles in the league we predict the spoils will be shared in this one.
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 Estoril Praia win with a probability of 36.04%. A win for Boavista had a probability of 34.87% and a draw had a probability of 29.1%.
The most likely scoreline for a Estoril Praia win was 0-1 with a probability of 12.27%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (7.47%) and 0-2 (6.84%). The likeliest Boavista win was 1-0 (12.02%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (13.39%). The actual scoreline of 1-1 was predicted with a 13.4% likelihood.
