Botafogo and Atletico Mineiro will do battle at the Estadio Olimpico Nilton Santos on Sunday in gameweek 15 of the 2024 Brasileiro season.
The hosts head into this one off the back of a hard-fought victory, while their visitors suffered defeat for the first time in three league matches last time out.
Match preview
© Reuters
Botafogo made it two wins from their last three matches by narrowly defeating Cuiaba 2-1 at the Arena Pantanal on Wednesday.
Artur Jorge's men took the lead inside five minutes through Kaue but were pegged back on the stroke of half time by Isidro Pitta before Mateo Ponte grabbed the winner 14 minutes from time.
As a result, O Glorioso have moved up to second place in the Brasileiro table, three points adrift of Flamengo at the top of the pile.
On the menu next is the challenge of an opposing outfit with little to choose over the most recent eight meetings which have yielded four wins apiece.
Unbeaten in eight of their last nine home involvements, Sunday's hosts have been impressive in front of their fans and will be confident of coming away with a positive result here.
Atletico Mineiro were comprehensively beaten 4-2 by Flamengo in Thursday's encounter between the teams at the MRV Arena.
Goals from Bruno Henrique, Carlinhos and Ayrton Lucas left Gabriel Milito's men with a mountain to climb, but they did pull one back through Hulk, who went on to grab another, albeit all to no avail following Henrique's second of the contest.
With 18 points picked up from 13 matches so far, Los Galos sit 11th in the standings, six points clear of the drop zone despite having played one game fewer.
Since losing consecutive away matches against Penarol and Sport Recife, Monday's visitors have emerged victorious in two of the subsequent three and will look to get the job done on the road once again.
Team News
Matheus Nascimento has not featured since April due to a knee problem, while midfielder Jeffinho misses out through injury.
The home side will also be without the services of 33-year-old Rafael da Silva, who remains a significant way off making his comeback from injury.
Kaue made the most of a rare start against Cuiaba by grabbing the all-important winner and should retain his place in the lineup here.
Rubens and Daniel Penha are still sidelined for Mineiro, but Otavio is fit to go again having returned to action against Flamengo.
Romulo received his marching orders in the aforementioned game and will serve a one-game suspension, opening the door for Mariano to feature.
Botafogo possible starting lineup:
Victor; Marcal, Bastos, Halter, Ponte; Kaue, Freitas, Gregore; Santos, Eduardo, Henrique
Atletico Mineiro possible starting lineup:
Mendes; Mariano, Fuchs, Battaglia, Scarpa; Otavio, Vitor, Gomes; Hulk, Paulinho, Cadu
We say: Botafogo 2-1 Atletico Mineiro
Botafogo have made a bright start to the new season and have the wind in their sails heading into this weekend's contest. We can see them carrying the day here, albeit by only a narrow margin.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
