Santos will host their rivals Palmeiras on Sunday, with the home side aiming to continue their fine run of recent form after winning their last two games.
The visitors sit in second place in the Campeonato Brasileiro table, and they will be looking to collect their fifth consecutive victory on Sunday.
Match preview
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Santos are coming into a positive run of form at just the right time, and they will be aiming to collect their third consecutive victory on Sunday.
Courtesy of wins in their previous two games, Santos have started to move away from danger, and head into the weekend five points clear of the relegation zone.
A home victory over Fluminense was followed by a narrow away win against Athletico Paranaense, with a goal from Madson proving to be enough to guide Santos to a 1-0 victory.
Fabio Carille will be pleased with his side's form of late, but he will also be proud of his team's recent defensive efforts with Santos keeping four clean sheets in their last six games.
After suffering only three home league defeats this season, Santos will be hopeful that they can collect all three points in the derby on Sunday.
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Palmeiras head into the weekend in exemplary form having won their last four matches, and those victories have cemented their place in the top four.
Although they are unbeaten in their last five games, it is unlikely that they will be able to catch Atletico Mineiro, who are ten points clear at the top.
Despite going behind against Gremio last weekend, Abel Ferreira's side ran out 3-1 winners courtesy of Raphael Veiga's brace and a goal from Breno Lopes.
Saturday's visitors have been in fine goalscoring touch this season, scoring 45 league goals, while only failing to score in one of their last 12 league games.
Unbeaten in their previous three away fixtures, they will be in a confident mood having scored five goals in their last two away encounters.
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Team News
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Santos have a number of injuries to contend with, including Leo Baptistao, Jobson and John.
Sandry, Gabriel Pirani and Kaiky Melo are also ruled out of Sunday's encounter, and it is expected that Carille will name a similar lineup to the one that collected three points last weekend.
As a result, 16-year-old forward Angelo Gabriel is expected to keep his place in the side.
Palmeiras will have to do without the services of Jorge and Mayke, who are out with thigh and knee problems respectively.
There was some positive news with Gabriel Menino returning from injury to feature on the bench last weekend, and the midfielder will be in the squad for Sunday's contest.
After an impressive performance against Gremio, Ferreira is expected to name an unchanged team for the derby.
Santos possible starting lineup:
Paulo; Boza, Reis, Velazquez; Madson, Zanocelo, Jonatan, Braga; Gabriel, Guilherme, Tardelli
Palmeiras possible starting lineup:
Weverton; Rocha, Luan, Gomez, Piquerez; Melo, Ze Rafael, Veiga; Scarpa, Dudu, Rony
We say: Santos 1-1 Palmeiras
Both teams head into the contest in high spirits after a run of positive results, and we think that the two sides may settle for a point with neither team wanting to lose to their bitter rivals.
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 Santos win with a probability of 36.44%. A win for Palmeiras had a probability of 34.81% and a draw had a probability of 28.7%.
The most likely scoreline for a Santos win was 1-0 with a probability of 12.03%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (7.61%) and 2-0 (6.87%). The likeliest Palmeiras win was 0-1 (11.69%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (13.33%). The actual scoreline of 0-2 was predicted with a 6.5% likelihood.
