Saturday's Primeira Liga action kicks off at Estadio de Sao Luis, where a stuttering SC Farense will play host to this season's surprise package Moreirense.
These two sides are well acquainted, having battled out the Segunda Liga title last season, which the visitors won, and they will resume their rivalry this week with an important three points on the line in a compact top-flight mid-table.
Match preview
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Farense have had their ups and downs in their first season back in the Primeira Liga, but they will be relatively pleased with their return so far, currently on 26 points after 22 matches and on course to avoid the drop.
The Lions of Faro will be eager to get back to winning ways, though, as a 2-1 defeat away to Braga last weekend marked their fourth consecutive match without victory, including back-to-back 1-1 draws against Famalicao and Chaves and a 3-1 defeat to Porto at the end of last month.
Nevertheless, Jose Mota would still have taken several positives from those matches, chief among which would be the upturn in the form of attacker Bruno Duarte, who scored in four of their last five matches, with last week's trip to Braga being the only exception.
The hosts have been difficult to beat on their home patch this season, losing just three of their last 10 games at Estadio de Sao Luis while winning four and drawing the remaining three, although it should be noted all three of those defeats were against top-five teams (Porto, Vitoria de Guimaraes and Sporting Lisbon).
Farense beat this opponent 3-1 at this venue last season in the Segunda Liga and will be out for revenge here after losing the reverse fixture 1-0 in Guimaraes back in September last year.
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Meanwhile, Moreirense's return to the top flight has been incredibly positive as they are not only comfortably placed in the top half of the table but also have an outside chance of having a say in the race for the final European qualification spot.
The Green and White are on 35 points with a record of 10 wins, five draws and seven losses up to this point in the campaign, which is eight shy of fourth-placed Braga and seven clear of Arouca in seventh place.
Last week, Paulo Alves's side put on a good showing but were beaten 2-0 by Sporting Lisbon, marking their third loss in five league games, but like their opponents here, all of those defeats came against sides in the top five of the Primeira Liga standings.
The only aspect that Alves will likely want to improve heading into the final stretch of the season will be his side's attacking output, as their 26-goal tally to date is the lowest of any side in the top half of the table.
Team News
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Mota has fielded the same starting 11 in each of his side's last five matches, and with no fresh injury concerns to contend with, we could see the hosts remain unchanged again this weekend.
Duarte's purple patch has recently seen him move to eight goals for Farense this season, and he will almost certainly lead the line again here in front of the attacking midfield trio of Marco Matias, Mattheus and Elves Balde.
Joao Camacho returned to the attack for Moreirense last week, and after a quiet match, we could see him drop to the bench here, with Jeremy Antonisse being the most likely to replace him in the starting lineup.
Alhassane Sylla has been absent throughout the season and is expected to miss most of the remaining matches, while Fabiano, who has missed the last six games due to injury, is still a few weeks away from returning to action.
SC Farense possible starting lineup:
Velho; Pastor, Silva, Muscat, Talocha; Falcao, Caseres; Matias, Mattheus, Balde; Duarte
Moreirense possible starting lineup:
Kewin; Pinto, Maracas, Marcelo, Frimpong; Ofori, Franco; Madson, Alanzinho, Antonisse; Asue
We say: SC Farense 1-1 Moreirense
While there is a nine-point gap between these sides in the league standings, they are very evenly matched on paper, and both will be looking to bounce back from defeats last week. We are expecting a close encounter here and feel that there will be nothing to split these two at the final whistle.
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Devesh Jaganath
