Two sides that have made contrasting starts to the 2023-24 Primeira Liga season will meet this weekend when Vizela play host to Porto at Estadio Do Vizela on Sunday evening.
The hosts are currently in 15th place in the league standings with six points after the first eight matches, while the visitors are third and just three points off the current league leaders Sporting Lisbon.
Match preview
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After failing to win a single of their final eight league matches last season, Vizela seem to have carried their poor form into the current campaign and are level on points with Arouca in the relegation playoff spot.
Vizelenses played out a 0-0 draw away to Farense in their last league match, which extended their winless run in the top flight to four games, including losses to Benfica and Portimonense and a draw to Estoril.
The international break could not have come at a better time for Pablo Villar's side, who returned to action with a Taca de Portugal fixture last weekend, which they managed to win 1-0 against Liga 3 outfit Atletico CP.
While that victory would have gone some way to lifting the spirits around the camp, the actual performance delivered by Villar's men was far from inspiring, seemingly lacking the killer instinct and only managing to break the deadlock late in the second half.
The hosts will do well to get anything from this match as they now go up against an opponent that have beaten them in each of their last four encounters and outscored them 11-2 in that time.
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Meanwhile, Porto have made a solid start to the 2023-24 league campaign, currently on 19 points, with a record of six wins, one draw and one loss, and firmly in the rearview mirror of the two front-runners.
The only smudge on their Primeira Liga record this season was a 1-0 loss to Benfica at the end of last month when they played over an hour of the match with 10 men after Fabio Cardoso was shown a straight red.
The Dragons returned from the international break with a routine 2-0 win against Vilar de Perdizes and followed up with an important 4-1 victory over Antwerp in the Champions League in midweek, which saw them move into second place in their group, three points behind Barcelona.
Sergio Conceicao will now need to refocus on the league requirements, with a favourable run of fixtures over the next month before what could be a crucial encounter against Sporting Lisbon in mid-December.
Porto have not been as clinical in front of goal as we have become accustomed to in the early stages of the season, scoring just 11 so far, which is the fewest of any of the top seven sides in the league standings.
However, facing a side that they have dominated in recent times, it would come as little surprise if we saw the net bulge more than once in this match.
Team News
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Vizela are likely to remain in a 4-2-3-1 formation but will be without the services of Orest Lebedenko, Matias Lacava and Jardel, who have all been ruled out for this match due to injury.
Matheus Pereira has made a bright start to the season at left-back, featuring in every match, but he is walking a tightrope with four yellow cards already this term and at risk of suspension.
Samuel Essende is the side's top-scorer with four this season and will almost certainly lead the line with the support of Matias Lacava and Nuno Moreira.
Conceicao, on the other hand, has a fairly lengthy casualty list, with Wendell, Ivan Jaime, Zaidu Sanusi and Gabriel Veron all flagged with muscle injuries.
Ivan Marcano is set for an extended period on the sideline with a serious ACL injury, while David Carmo will have to sit the match out after his two yellows against Portimonense before the international break.
Vizela possible starting lineup:
Buntic; Silva, Wilson, Anderson, Pereira; Nascimento, Busnic; Lacava, Samu, Moreira; Essende
Porto possible starting lineup:
Costa; Mario, Mota, Cardoso, Evanilson; Baro, Gonzalez, Varela, Galeno; Pepe, Taremi
We say: Vizela 1-2 Porto
Porto have looked very good since returning from the international break, and they will know that they cannot afford to drop any more points while it is still early in the season. The Dragons will head into this match as strong favourites, and we feel they will live up to that tag with a fifth consecutive victory over this opponent.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
