Gremio will endeavour to record their seventh win in a row in all competitions when they play host to Ceara on Saturday in the Brazilian top flight.
The hosts find themselves eighth in the table at the midway point, with Ceara occupying 13th spot having accrued five fewer points than their weekend opponents.
Match preview
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Gremio are a side on a magnificent spell of form at the moment. Renato Gaucho's men are seeing their results improve in the top flight and have triumphed in their last six matches in all competitions.
Despite their terrific recent results, Gremio are still nowhere near where they want to be in the table as they lie three points adrift of the top four, with Imortal Tricolor seeking to improve on their fourth-placed finishes of the past three seasons.
Gaucho's side have also got a Copa do Brasil campaign to juggle alongside their league commitments after they beat Serie B side Cuiaba in the first leg of their quarter-final on Wednesday, and Gremio will soon turn their attention to the Copa Libertadores when they face off against Paraguayan outfit Guarani in the last-16 stage later this month.
For now, though, Gaucho will simply be focused on the task at hand against Ceara - avoid defeat and Gremio will extend their unbeaten run across all competitions to 10 matches - although Ceara will not make life easy for them as the visitors have an unbeaten streak of their own in the Brasileiro to boast about.
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Similarly, Ceara have not lost in the league since early October and are one of only three sides in the Brasileiro not to have tasted defeat in their last five top-flight matches - the other two being Gremio and Sao Paulo.
However, Guto Ferreira's men have only won twice in that run - drawing four out of their last six matches in the top division - and this weekend's visitors lie in 13th ahead of their 20th league outing of the season.
A mid-table finish would be a significant improvement on last season for Ceara - who staved off relegation by a mere three points as they placed 16th - but Ferreira's side are facing an uphill battle to rise any higher up the table this weekend against an in-form Gremio outfit.
Furthermore, Ceara's preparations for this game went poorly as Palmeiras cruised to a 3-0 victory over Alvinegro Cearense in the first leg of their Copa do Brasil quarter final in midweek, with Ferreira's men tasked with trying to launch an improbable comeback in next Wednesday's second leg.
Gremio and Ceara played out a 1-1 draw in the reverse fixture back in August, with Cleber netting on the stroke of half time for Ferreira's side before Thaciano rescued a point for Gremio.
Gremio Brasileiro form: LWDWWW
Gremio form (all competitions): WWWWWW
Ceara Brasileiro form: DWDWDD
Ceara form (all competitions): WDDWDL
Team News
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Gremio
Out: Maicon (muscle)
Doubtful: Alisson Castro (muscle), Leo Gomes (ACL)
Ceara
Out: None
Doubtful: None
We say: Gremio 2-0 Ceara
Both of these sides will be looking to extend their respective unbeaten runs in this encounter, although Ceara's recent spell of form is nothing to write home about compared to Gremio's winning streak. Furthermore, the visitors have had little time to recover from their cup defeat to Palmeiras, which will play right into Gremio's hands, and we expect Gaucho's men to prevail with minimal trouble.
Top betting tip
Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting under 3.5 goals in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.Under 3.5:dataData 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 Gremio win with a probability of 59.74%. A draw had a probability of 24.1% and a win for Ceara had a probability of 16.21%.
The most likely scoreline for a Gremio win was 1-0 with a probability of 15.11%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (12.59%) and 2-1 (9.24%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (11.09%), while for a Ceara win it was 0-1 (6.66%). The actual scoreline of 4-2 was predicted with a 0.8% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Gremio would win this match.
