Bahia will be looking to avoid a third consecutive match without victory in Brasileiro when they travel to Estadio Sao Januario to face Vasco da Gama on Tuesday morning.
With eight games left in the season, the hosts are currently in 10th place in the league standings with 40 points, while the visitors are seventh with 46 points to date.
Match preview
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After finishing in 15th place and missing out on qualifying for the Copa Sudamericana by two points in their first season back in the top fight, Vasco Da Gama have shown improvement this term and will want to end the campaign strongly.
With eight games left to play, Cruzmaltino are five points behind their tally from last season but hold a five-point advantage over Gremio, who is the first side below the continental cup qualification cutoff.
However, after going unbeaten between the start of August and mid-September, picking up 12 points in six matches during that period, Gigante da Colina failed to win any of their next four before managing a slender 1-0 win over Cuiaba on Friday night.
The one area that Rafael Paiva will be looking to improve over the run-in, though, will be his side's attacking output, as they have only netted 33 goals this season, which is the fourth-worst tally in the top flight.
Nevertheless, the hosts will enter this match with confidence as they have performed very well at home this season, earning 28 of their 40-point tally at Estadio Sao Januario, while only losing one of their last 11 matches at this venue (W6 D4 L1).
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Meanwhile, after making a very promising start to the season, taking 18 points from their first nine games, Bahia lost their way somewhat since mid-July and have slipped out of the qualifying spots for Copa Libertadores next term.
Tricolor are trailing Internacional, who currently occupy the final Libertadores qualifier spot by three points, and after playing out a 1-1 draw last weekend, they have now only managed one win in their last four league games.
Still, this season has been a major improvement for Rogerio Ceni, as they have surpassed the 44 points they posted last term and their 13 wins in this campaign is already one more than they managed across the entire of 2023.
On the road, though, Bahiaco are winless in their last three league matches, losing two and drawing one, and have only claimed three victories in 15 away games this season.
Bahia won the reverse fixture between these sides 2-1 back in June on their home patch, and that result extended their unbeaten record against this opponent to four matches (W3 D1 L0), dating back to August 2022.
Team News
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Vasco da Gama will have to make do without Hugo Moura and Pablo Vegetti on Monday after the pair crossed the yellow card threshold in the victory against Cuiaba over the weekend.
Paulinho Paula (cruciate ligament), Guilherme Estrella (knee), David (knee) and Adson (leg) are all done for the season due to injury, while Victor Luis is flagged as a major doubt owing to a muscle strain.
For the visitors, Santiago Arias was shown a straight red in the side's defeat against Flamengo before the international break, and he will be serving the second game of his three-match ban in this one.
Bahia have just one injury absentee for this match in the form of Rezende, who has missed the last four games with a hamstring tweak, though he is expected to return before the end of the season.
Vasco da Gama possible starting lineup:
Jardim; Henrique, Victor, Leo, Piton; Sforza, Carvalho; Rodriguez, Coutinho, Rodriguez; Vitor
Bahia possible starting lineup:
Felipe; Junior, Xavier, Kanu, Juba; Alexandre, Ribeiro, Lucas, Cauly; Thaciano, Everaldo
We say: Vasco da Gama 2-1 Bahia
While Bahia have been the better side in this fixture over the last couple of years, their away record this season has been very poor, with only three wins earned in 15 outings to date.
Vasco da Gama, on the other hand, have been impressive at home, notching up wins over the likes of Sao Paulo and Fortaleza this season, and we feel they will be able to pick up another three points in this one.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Devesh Jaganath
