Fresh off the back of picking up just their third Primeira Liga win of the season, Belenenses take a trip to the Estadio Cidade de Barcelos to face Gil Vicente on Saturday.
The hosts, on the other hand, head into the game as one of the most in-form sides in the league, claiming five wins and two draws from their last seven games, and will look to keep the juggernaut rolling.
Match preview
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Gil Vicente returned to winning ways and strengthened their position in the Conference League qualification places last Sunday when they saw off a resilient Vizela side 1-0 at the Estadio do FC Vizela.
In a game where clear-cut chances were at a premium, Spanish forward Fran Navarro made no mistake from 12 yards out as he calmly converted his 27th-minute penalty to hand the visitors all three points.
Prior to that, the Gilistas saw their two-game winning streak come to an end when they came from behind twice to salvage a 2-2 draw against Santa Clara on February 6.
After a slow start to the season, where they managed two wins from their opening nine games, Ricardo Soares will be impressed by his side's turnaround as they head into Saturday's game unbeaten in each of their last seven games, claiming five wins and two draws since December's 3-0 loss against Sporting Lisbon.
This fine run of results has seen Gil Vicente strengthen their position in the Primeira Liga standings as they currently occupy fifth place with 37 points from 22 games, four points adrift of Braga and seven above Vitoria de Guimaraes just outside the Conference League qualification places.
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Belenenses, meanwhile, finally gave their fans something to cheer for as they claimed a hard-earned 1-0 victory over Vitoria de Guimaraes on home turf last time out.
In an end-to-end affair at the Estadio Nacional do Jamor, Brazilian forward Safira struck five minutes after the half-time interval but it was enough to hand the hosts just their third league victory of the season.
Prior to that, Franclim Carvalho's side had managed just one victory from 11 outings across all competitions and were on a five-game game winless run, losing four games and managing just one draw in that time.
However, Belenenses now return to the road where they have struggled for form this season, failing to win any of their 11 outings and ranking last in the away record table with four points from 33 available.
O Belem have now won three, drawn six and lost 13 of their 22 games this season to collect 15 points and sit rock bottom on the log, five points off Tondela just outside the relegation zone.
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Team News
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Gil Vicente will take to the pitch without the services of Murilo de Souza who picked up an Achilles' tendon injury in the game against Boavista on January 15.
Brazilian midfielder Joao Afonso will also play no part in Saturday's game as he continues on his road to full fitness having sustained a severe injury last April.
Slovenian goalkeeper Ziga Frelih is also out of contention for the Gilistas after coming off injured in the game against Portimonense on January 23, meaning Andrew will start in goal for the fourth consecutive game.
Belenenses, on the other hand, remain without the services of Portuguese midfielder Chico Teixeira, who sustained a knee injury back in September.
He is joined on the club's injury table by Nilton Varela, who was forced off the pitch just nine minutes into the game against Sporting Lisbon through a groin problem, while midfielder Rafael Camacho also misses out through a muscle injury.
Gil Vicente possible starting lineup:
Andrew; Carlos, Cunha, Fernandes, Gomes; Carvalho, Pedrinho, Fujimoto; Leautey, Navarro, Lino
Belenenses possible starting lineup:
Felipe; Akas, Phete, Tavares; Calila, Carraca, Sithole, Baraye, Sousa; Safira, Camara
We say: Gil Vicente 2-1 Belenenses
Buoyed by their victory over Vitoria de Guimaraes last time out, Belenenses will be looking to build on that performance and begin their push from the bottom of the standings. However, they face a Gil Vicente side who have hit their stride since the turn of the year. We are backing Gil Vicente to maintain their fine run and come away with all three points on Saturday.
Top tip
Joshua Ojele
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 Gil Vicente win with a probability of 51.02%. A draw had a probability of 25.6% and a win for Belenenses had a probability of 23.36%.
The most likely scoreline for a Gil Vicente win was 1-0 with a probability of 12.7%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (9.8%) and 2-1 (9.35%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (12.12%), while for a Belenenses win it was 0-1 (7.86%). The actual scoreline of 2-0 was predicted with a 9.8% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole and our data analysis both correctly predicted that Gil Vicente would win this match.
