Looking to pick up successive home victories for just the second time this season, Maritimo welcome Benfica to the Estádio dos Barreiros in round 32 of the Primeira Liga on Saturday.
As Aguias, on the other hand, will head into the game seeking to complete a second straight league double over the hosts, having won each of the last three meetings between the sides.
Match preview
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Maritimo turned in a resilient team performance last Saturday when they fought back from two goals down to salvage a 2-2 draw with Santa Clara at the Estadio de Sao Miguel.
After a brace from Kyosuke Tagawa put the hosts two goals up heading into half time, Ali Alipour pulled one back in the 64th minute before Claudio Winck restored parity with five minutes left to play.
Prior to that, Vasco Seabra's side saw off 10-man Boavista 4-0 on April 16, when 28-year-old forward Joel Tagueu scored a hat-trick to hand the visitors their ninth defeat of the season and end Maritimo's four-game winless run.
With 37 points from 31 games, O Maior das Ilhas are currently seventh in the Primeira Liga standings, level on points with eighth-placed Pacos de Ferreira.
While Maritimo will be looking to return to winning ways, next up is an opposing side who are unbeaten in 17 of the last 20 meetings between the sides and have won each of their last three encounters since 2020.
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Elsewhere, Benfica were denied a third league win on the trot last time out when they were held to an uneventful goalless draw by a spirited Famalicao side at the Estadio Municipal de Famalicao.
Prior to that, Lucas Verissimo's side picked up successive league victories over Belenenses and Sporting Lisbon, with a Champions League 3-3 draw with Liverpool on April 13 sandwiched between the two wins.
Benfica are now unbeaten in all but one of their last 11 league outings — picking up seven wins and three draws — with a 3-2 loss against Braga on April 1 being the only exception.
As Aguias have won 21, drawn five and lost five of their 31 games this season to collect 68 points and sit third in the league standings, eight points adrift of second-placed Sporting Lisbon with three games left to play.
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Team News
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On the back of his side's resilient display against Santa Clara last time out, Seabra could name a similar XI on Saturday, meaning we could see an unchanged back four of Wink, Matheus Costa, Zainadine Junior and Vitor Costa for the fourth game running.
Further up the pitch, Pedro Pelagio has started each of the last three games and the 22-year-old should be joined by Argentine international Ivan Rossi in a two-man midfield pivot.
Bruno Xadas, Edgar Costa and Henrique should handle business in the final third, with Cameroonian forward Joel Tagueu, who has nine league goals to his name this season, spearheading the attack.
Meanwhile, Benfica will take to the pitch without Brazilian forward Rodrigo Pinho, who has been out of action since last September through a severe muscle problem.
He is joined on the club's injury table by fellow countryman Lucas Verissimo, who picked up a knee injury in the game against Braga last November.
Portuguese midfielder Rafa Silva is also out of contention for As Aguias after the 28-year-old picked up an injury versus Belenenses on April 9.
Maritimo possible starting lineup:
Victor; Winck, M Costa, Junior, V Costa; Pelagio, Rossi; Costa, Henrique, Xadas; Tagueu
Benfica possible starting lineup:
Vlachodimos; Gilberto, Otamendi, Vertonghen, Grimaldo; Weigl, Taarabt; Everton, Ramos, Dias; Nunez
We say: Maritimo 0-2 Benfica
Having struggled against Famalicao last week, Benfica will be backing themselves to come away with the desired results on Saturday as they go up against a Santa Clara side who have managed just one win from their last six outings. We predict a one-sided affair with the visitors coming out victorious once again.
Top tip
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 Benfica win with a probability of 48.45%. A win for Maritimo had a probability of 27.18% and a draw had a probability of 24.4%.
The most likely scoreline for a Benfica win was 0-1 with a probability of 9.8%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (9.49%) and 0-2 (8.08%). The likeliest Maritimo win was 1-0 (6.98%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (11.5%). The actual scoreline of 0-1 was predicted with a 9.8% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted a 0-1 win for Benfica in this match and our team at Sports Mole correctly predicted the win for Benfica.
