Fresh off the back of a 5-0 thrashing at the hands of Manchester City in the Champions League, Sporting Lisbon play host to Estoril Praia at the Estadio Jose Alvalade on Sunday.
The Canarinhos, on the other hand, ended their seven-game winless run when they saw off Tondela last time out and will look to build on that performance.
Match preview
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Sporting Lisbon were on the receiving end of a 5-0 thrashing by Premier League champions Manchester City when the sides squared off in the first leg of their Champions League round-of-16 tie.
Pep Guardiola watched on as his side turned in a performance of the highest quality, hitting four goals in the opening 44 minutes before English forward Raheem Sterling capped off a brilliant team performance with a 58th-minute strike.
The defeat once again highlighted Sporting Lisbon's recent struggles at the defensive end of the pitch as they have now failed to keep a clean sheet in six of their last seven outings across all competitions.
They now turn their attention to the Primeira Liga where they were denied a third win on the bounce last time out when they played out a thrilling 2-2 draw with rivals Porto at the Estadio do Dragao.
Ruben Amorim's side have won 17, drawn three and lost two of their 22 games this season to collect 54 points and sit second in the Primeira Liga standings, six points behind Porto at the top of the pile.
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Estoril Praia, on the other hand, picked up just their second home win of the season last time out when they saw off a resilient Tondela side 1-0 at the Estadio Antonio Coimbra da Mota.
With Bruno Pinheiro's men looking set to drop more points, 23-year-old forward Arthur Gomes came up trumps for the hosts as he scored the winner with just four minutes left to play.
Prior to that, the Canarinhos were on an eight-game winless run across all competitions, picking up three draws and losing four, inclining a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Tondela which saw them crash out of the Taca de Portugal.
With 30 points from 22 games, Estoril Praia are currently seventh on the log, level on points with sixth-placed Vitoria de Guimaraes and seven off Gil Vicente in the final Conference League qualification spot.
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Team News
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Sporting Lisbon will take to the pitch without the services of skipper Sebastian Coates, who received his marching orders in the game against Porto last week.
The duo of Bruno Tabata and Joao Palhinha also picked up red cards following a heated exchange between the two sides in the closing stages of the aforementioned game and will also serve their suspensions.
Pedro Goncalves returned from his short injury lay-off in the game against Manchester City last time out and the Portuguese talisman should retain his place in the starting XI on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Estoril Praia will have to make do with the absence of 25-year-old defender Lucas Africo, who picked up a severe knee injury last November.
He is joined on the club's injury table by veteran forward Rui Fonte after the 31-year-old was hooked off through injury after just 29 minutes versus Maritimo on February 5.
Ruben Providence, who joined the club on loan from Roma in the January window, awaits his debut as he continues his spell on the sidelines through an ankle injury.
Sporting Lisbon possible starting lineup:
Adan; Inacio, Neto, Feddal; Porro, Nunes, Braganca, Reis; Sarabia, Paulinho, Goncalves
Estoril Praia possible starting lineup:
Figueira; Patrick, Ferraresi, Vital, Joaozinho; Loreintz, Gamboa, Franco; Baro, Xavier, Laurenco
We say: Sporting Lisbon 2-0 Estoril Praia
Sporting Lisbon will be looking to restore some pride following their humbling defeat at the hands of Manchester City. While Estoril Praia will be looking to build on their win over Tondela, we are backing the Leoes to come away with a comfortable win.
Top tip
Joshua Ojele
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 Sporting Lisbon win with a probability of 57.51%. A draw had a probability of 22.8% and a win for Estoril Praia had a probability of 19.74%.
The most likely scoreline for a Sporting Lisbon win was 1-0 with a probability of 11.15%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (10.18%) and 2-1 (9.87%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (10.81%), while for a Estoril Praia win it was 0-1 (5.92%). The actual scoreline of 3-0 was predicted with a 6.2% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole and our data analysis both correctly predicted that Sporting Lisbon would win this match.
