Round 21 of the Portuguese Primeira Liga gets underway on Friday when Gil Vicente and Vizela go head to head at the Estadio Cidade de Barcelos.
The Vizelenses, who are currently on a run of four consecutive away defeats across all competitions, will be looking to end this dry spell and strengthen their position in the top half of the standings.
Match preview
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Gil Vicente maintained their impressive run of results on home turf as they secured a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Famalicao when the sides squared off last Sunday.
Following a relatively uneventful first half at the Estadio Municipal de Famalicao, Brazilian forward Murilo Souza netted the only goal of the game to hand the Vila Nova their 11th defeat of the season.
Prior to that, Daniel Sousa's side saw their two-game winning streak come to an end on January 31, when they suffered a 2-1 loss at Pacos de Ferreira before holding out for a 1-1 draw with Arouca five days later.
The Gilistas now return home, where they are currently on a run of four consecutive matches without defeat, picking up one draw and three wins, including November's 2-0 Taca da Liga victory over Nacional.
Gil Vicente have now picked up six wins, four draws and lost 10 of their 20 matches to collect 22 points and sit 13th in the Primeira Liga table, level on points with 14th-placed Estoril Praia.
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Vizela, on the other hand, made it five consecutive home matches without a defeat across all competitions last Friday when they played out a goalless draw with Chaves on home turf.
Despite multiple goalscoring chances for both sides at the Estadio do FC Vizela, they were guilty of a lack of cutting edge in the final third before settling for a share of the spoils.
Manuel Tulipa's side have now picked up two draws and three wins in their most recent five matches on home turf since a 1-0 loss at the hands of Arouca on November 5.
However, Vizela have struggled to get going on the road, where they are currently on a five-game losing streak, stretching back to December's 1-1 draw with Segunda Liga side Mafra in the Taca da Liga.
The Vizelenses are currently 10th in the Primeira Liga standings after picking up 25 points from 20 matches, but could move into eighth place with all three points this weekend.
They must first overcome the threat of a Gil Vicente side who they have failed to get the better of in each of their last seven meetings, losing four and claiming three draws since a 1-0 cup victory in October 2016.
Team News
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Gil Vicente will take to the pitch without Brazilian forward Lucas Barros, who has been out of action since last May through an ACL injury.
Ali Alipour and goalkeeper Stanislav Kritsyuk came off injured before the hour mark in Sunday's game against Famalicao and are major doubts for this weekend's encounter.
In their absence, 23-year-old Juan Manuel Boselli will push for a spot in attack, teaming up with Fran Navarro and Kanya Fujimoto, while Brazilian goalkeeper Andrew should start between the sticks.
Vizela's ever-present midfielder Raphael Guzzo sustained a game-ending injury in the first half of last week's clash with Chaves and the 28-year-old, who has started 17 league matches this season, is out of contention for the trip to the Estadio Cidade de Barcelos.
Alex Mendez, who replaced Guzzo in the aforementioned game, could be handed a starting role on Friday with the former Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder combining with Claudemir at the centre of the park.
Gil Vicente possible starting lineup:
Andrew; Carraca, Araujo, Fernandes, Marin; Aburjania, Tiba; Souza; Fujimoto, Boselli, Navarro
Vizela possible starting lineup:
Buntic; Juliao, Fernandes, Wilson, Afonso; Claudemir; Mendez, Bondoso, Samu, Moreira; Osmajic
We say: Gil Vicente 1-0 Vizela
With just three points separating Gil Vicente and Vizela, we anticipate an action-packed contest with both sides taking the game to each other. The Gilistas head into the game as the more in-form side, and given the recent results between the sides, we are backing them to claim a slender victory in this one.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Joshua Ojele
