Boavista play host to Santa Clara on Monday night looking to build on their impressive 3-0 victory over Pacos de Ferreira in their last Primeira Liga fixture.
While that result took the home side into eighth position in the standings, Santa Clara begin matchday three down in 16th spot after collecting just one point from their opening double-header.
Match preview
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On the back of losing 3-0 at Gil Vicente on the opening weekend of the season, Boavista boss Joao Pedro Sousa was left stunned given the level of his team's performances in the Taca da Liga.
However, Os Axadrezados quickly got that result out of their system with the 3-0 demolition of Pacos de Ferreira, outclassing and outfighting last season's fifth-placed side.
The goals were shared out between Yusupha Om Njie, Javi Garcia and Jeriel de Santis, but Sousa would have taken greater pride from a third clean sheet in four games.
Despite several of the league's big hitters to come before the end of October, the immediate schedule is in Boavista's favour as they bid to establish distance between themselves and the bottom three.
Regardless of 2021-22 being in its early stages, Sousa will want to ensure that the club do not experience another campaign similar to the previous one.
As far as Santa Clara are concerned, this fixture could be perceived as a distraction as they bid to qualify for the Europa Conference League group stages.
Nevertheless, the dramatic ending to their fixture with Moreirense has left Daniel Ramos and his squad being required to give this game their full attention.
Although they conceded twice in added-on time in their previous league fixture, they showed their battling qualities in seeing off Partizan Belgrade by a 2-1 scoreline on Thursday.
A difficult trip to Serbia will follow the full-time whistle on Monday, and it remains to be seen whether a seventh game in just over three weeks will take its toll over the coming days.
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Team News
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Boavista are likely to be forced into at least one change with Sebastian Perez going off injured last week.
If the Colombian does not pass a fitness test, Tomas Reymao or Miguel Reisinho are expected to be brought into the midfield.
Santa Clara oalkeeper Marco is pushing for a recall between the sticks after recovering from coronavirus, but a number of players remain sidelined.
Carlos Junior has left Santa Clara to link up with Al Shabab, a departure which could see Ricardinho used on one of the flanks.
Boavista possible starting lineup:
Bracali; Awaziem, Garcia, Porozo; Nathan, Makouta, Remao, Hamache; Gorre, Njie, Sauer
Santa Clara possible starting lineup:
Fernandes; Ramos, Afonso, Villanueva, Mansur; Nene, Morita, Carvalho; Patric, Costa, Ricardinho
We say: Boavista 3-1 Santa Clara
Santa Clara find themselves in the same shoes as Pacos de Ferreira, potentially distracted by trying to progress further in Europe. That gives us enough of a reason to predict a home win, a result which would move Boavista in contention for the top six.
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 Boavista win with a probability of 42.09%. A draw had a probability of 31.4% and a win for Santa Clara had a probability of 26.51%.
The most likely scoreline for a Boavista win was 1-0 with a probability of 16.44%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (8.99%) and 2-1 (7.2%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 0-0 (15.04%), while for a Santa Clara win it was 0-1 (12.04%). The actual scoreline of 2-0 was predicted with an 9% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Boavista would win this match.
