In what is a dress rehearsal for next month's Copa do Brasil final, Athletico Paranaense will host league leaders Atletico Mineiro in the Campeonato Brasileiro on Tuesday.
The home side are in a comfortable mid-table position, while Atletico Mineiro will be aiming for their fourth consecutive victory as they edge closer to the title.
Match preview
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Athletico Paranaense have two finals to look forward to, with a two-legged cup final with Tuesday's opponents set to take place in December, while this Saturday they will face fellow Brazilian side Bragantino in the Copa Sudamericana final.
On Tuesday, the hosts will try to ignore all other distractions as they focus on an encounter with the league leaders, with the home side looking to bounce back after losing at the weekend.
Alberto Valentim's side entered Saturday's encounter with Internacional unbeaten in their previous three games, but that run was ended with a 2-1 defeat.
David Terans gave Athletico Paranaense the lead in the 37th minute, but Edenilson struck three minutes later, and he netted again in the second half to ensure Valentim's men went home pointless.
With the best side in the division coming to town, an area of concern for Valentim will be the defence, with Athletico Paranaense conceding 42 goals this season.
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Atletico Mineiro are closing in on the title and after three consecutive home games, they face a tough away trip on Tuesday.
Those three home encounters yielded maximum points, with Cuca's side seeing off Gremio and America Mineiro before they swept aside Corinthians on Saturday.
Diego Costa opened the scoring, with Keno and Hulk also netting to clinch their eighth successive home victory.
Cuca's men have found the net with ease this season, scoring 50 league goals, but they have still remained solid at the back, possessing the best defensive record in the league.
The only concern for Cuca ahead of Tuesday's encounter is that his side have struggled away from home of late, with only one away victory in their last six games.
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Team News
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Athletico Paranaense are without Fernando Canesin, Erick and Nicolas, who are all absent due to injury problems.
Matheus Babi and Lucas Halter are also out injured, with the pair set to miss the remainder of the season.
There is positive news for the hosts, with Abner Vinicius available after serving a one-match suspension for yellow card accumulation.
As a result of international call ups, Atletico Mineiro are without the services of Junior Alonso, Eduardo Vargas, Jefferson Savarino and Alan Franco.
Guilherme Arana is also absent, with the left-back suspended due to yellow card accumulation, which could lead to a starting place for Dodo.
Hulk has top-scored for Atletico Mineiro this season and he will be aiming to add to the 12 league goals that he has bagged this term.
Athletico Paranaense possible starting lineup:
Santos; Henrique, Heleno, Hernandez; Marcinho, Christian, Cittadini, Vinicius; Nikao, Terans, Kayzer
Atletico Mineiro possible starting lineup:
Everson; Guga, Nathan, Rever, Dodo; Allan, Tche Tche, Hulk; Zaracho, Keno, Costa
We say: Athletico Paranaense 1-2 Atletico Mineiro
Athletico Parananese will have one eye on their Copa Sudamericana final on Saturday, which could play into the hands of the visitors, who will have no distractions as they look to edge closer to the title, and we think Atletico Mineiro will have enough to collect all three points on Tuesday.
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 Atletico Mineiro win with a probability of 45.63%. A win for Athletico Paranaense had a probability of 27.97% and a draw had a probability of 26.4%.
The most likely scoreline for an Atletico Mineiro win was 0-1 with a probability of 11.75%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (9.01%) and 0-2 (8.46%). The likeliest Athletico Paranaense win was 1-0 (8.71%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.53%). The actual scoreline of 0-1 was predicted with an 11.8% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted a 0-1 win for Atletico Mineiro in this match.
