Two sides with contrasting Primeira Liga ambitions this season will face off this weekend when Braga take on Vizela at Estadio Municipal de Braga on Saturday night.
The hosts are in a heated battle to secure European football next season, while the visitors' goal is to maintain their top-flight status with just five games left to play.
Match preview
© Reuters
Outside of the top two, the race for European qualification is far from over this season, with Porto, Braga and Vitoria de Guimaraes all still in the running, and after last week's results, they are now separated by just two points.
Of those three teams, only Os Arsenalistas came out of gameweek 29 with a victory, beating Estoril 1-0 on the road, which saw them draw level with Os Dragoes, who have now gone three games without victory, and pull two ahead of Os Vimaranenses in fifth.
Alvaro Djalo scored the only goal of the match just after the hour-mark, ensuring that Braguistas avoided what would have been a second consecutive defeat following their unexpected 3-0 home loss to Arouca a week earlier.
That defeat followed the controversial departure of Artur Jorge at the start of the month, and the club will continue their battle for a top-four finish with caretaker manager Rui Duarte before Daniel Sousa takes up the role at the end of the season.
Braga won the reverse fixture 3-1 at Estadio Do Vizela back in December last year, which extended their winning streak against this opponent to five in a row dating back to November 2021.
© Reuters
Meanwhile, the 2023-24 Primeira Liga season has been something of a nightmare for Vizela, who are now potentially just two losses away from returning to the second tier after two top-flight seasons.
Vizelenses dropped to the foot of the table last weekend when they were beaten by now second-bottom Chaves, with Jota Goncalves scoring an own-goal midway through the first half of the match.
That result marked Ruben de la Barrera's side's fourth league defeat on the trot and 16th of the season, leaving them on just 21 points after 29 games and seven points from safety.
To have any chance of surviving the drop, the visitors will have to tighten up in defence for the final few matches of the season. They have already shipped 60 goals this term, including 13 in their last four away games alone.
Team News
© Reuters
Paulo Oliveira returned to the defence for Braga last week after missing the previous two games and is likely to pair up with Sikou Niakate in the heart of the backline in front of Matheus Lima in goal.
Djalo netted his seventh of the season in last week's victory and should keep his place in the two-man attack alongside Golden Boot contender Simon Banza, who is one behind Sporting's Viktor Gyokeres.
Anderson replaced Joao Rodrigo Escoval in the backline last week for Vizela and could be given another starting role here, with Orest Lebedenko, Tomas Silva and Goncalves completing the defensive quartet.
Sava Petrov is expected to support Samuel Essende at the top end of the pitch, while Matias Lacava is a doubt after missing last week's 1-0 home defeat to Chaves.
Braga possible starting lineup:
Lima; Gomez, Oliveira, Niakate, Borja; Horta, Carvalho, Moutinho, Bruma; Djalo, Banza
Vizela possible starting lineup:
Ruberto; Goncalves, Anderson, Lebedenko; Soro, Business, Samu, Pereira; Petrov, Essende
We say: Braga 3-1 Vizela
Both these sides need three points here but for very different reasons. Based on form and league position, the hosts should come through this one with a comfortable victory.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
