Fresh off the back of a disappointing Taca da Liga defeat, Porto take on Boavista in round 10 of the Primeira Liga at the Estadio do Dragao on Saturday.
The visitors head into the game without a league win in any of their most recent four games away from home and will be looking to end this dry spell.
Match preview
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Porto were denied a dream start to their Taca da Liga campaign last time out when they fell to a humbling 3-1 defeat at the hands of Santa Clara.
In a riveting contest at the Estadio de Sao Miguel, Mehdi Taremi pulled one back for the visitors after Andrei Chindris and Ricardinho had put Santa Clara two goals up, but Nene netted in the 96th minute to make sure of the result and fire Os Acoreanos to the top of Group D.
Prior to that, Porto were on a run of four consecutive wins across all competitions, scoring 11 goals and letting in two since a humbling 5-1 loss against Liverpool in the Champions League on September 28.
The Dragons now turn their attention to the Primeira Liga where they have kicked off their quest to unseat reigning champions Sporting Lisbon on a good note as they find themselves in second place in the table after claiming 23 points from the opening nine matches.
Porto head into the game as one of just two unbeaten sides in the division so far and this has been down to their stellar display at both ends of the pitch as they boast the league's best attack with 21 goals scored, while shipping six at the opposite end of the pitch.
Meanwhile, Boavista continue to struggle for form in the Portuguese top flight as they were held to an uneventful goalless draw by Belenenses at the Estadio do Bessa.
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While Os Axadrezados were in the ascendancy for most of the game, their efforts to break the deadlock were constantly repelled by an inspired Luis Felipec, who made a plethora of saves between the sticks for O Belem.
Prior to that, Joao Pedro Sousa's men suffered a third-round exit from the Taca de Portugal after suffering a humbling 4-0 loss at the hands of Segunda Liga side Rio Ave at the Estadio dos Arcos.
Boavista head into Saturday's game without a win in any of their most recent six league games, picking up five draws and losing one since a 2-0 win over Santa Clara back in August.
For all their struggles, Saturday's visitors are currently eighth on the log after picking up 11 points from nine outings, and could move level on points with sixth-placed Portimonense with a win.
However, next up is an opposing side who are unbeaten in each of the last 15 meetings between the sides, claiming 13 wins and two draws stretching back to September 2014.
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Team News
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Brazilian full-back Wendell is set to miss his third consecutive game after sustaining a knee injury in the game against Pacos de Ferreira a little under one month ago.
Other than that, there are no concerns to contend with on the injury front for Conceicao and we expect the Portuguese manager to make several changes to the starting lineup from last time out.
After coming off the bench to pull one back for Porto in the aforementioned game, Taremi has now scored eight goals in his last seven outings and we expect the Iranian forward to come into the XI this weekend.
Portuguese midfielder Miguel Reisinho remains the only injury concern for Boavista after the 22-year-old picked up a knee problem in the game versus Pacos de Ferreira on August 16.
Tomas Reymao was handed just his second start of the season by Sousa against Belenenses last time out but following his unconvincing performance the 23-year-old could make way for Sebastian Perez at the centre of the park.
Porto possible starting lineup:
Marchesin; Corona, Pepe, Mbemba, Sanusi; Otavio, Oliveira, Uribe, Diaz; Martinez, Taremi
Boavista possible starting lineup:
Beiranvand; Garcia, Porozo, Abascal; Malheiro, Nathan, Perez, Hamache; Njie, Musa, Sauer
We say: Porto 2-0 Boavista
Porto will head into the game seeking to restore some pride following their disappointing cup defeat last time out. Conceicao's side have been utterly dominant in the history of this fixture and considering they head into the game in stronger form, we are backing them to extend their reign of dominance over Boavista and come away with all three points.
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 Porto win with a probability of 77.35%. A draw had a probability of 15.6% and a win for Boavista had a probability of 7.06%.
The most likely scoreline for a Porto win was 2-0 with a probability of 15.35%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (13.27%) and 3-0 (11.84%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (7.23%), while for a Boavista win it was 0-1 (3.12%). The actual scoreline of 4-1 was predicted with a 3.7% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Porto would win this match.
