An important clash at the bottom end of the Campeonato Brasileiro Serie A takes place in Porto Alegre on Sunday, as Internacional play host to Juventude.
Both sides find themselves in the bottom half of the table after 11 games of the season, with the home side sitting four points above the drop zone while the visitors have a six-point cushion.
Match preview
© Reuters
Internacional come into Sunday's game in a concerning run of form, having failed to win any of their last five league games.
In that time, they have collected just three points while scoring three goals, firstly playing out 1-1 draws with America Mineiro and Corinthians and suffering a narrow 2-1 defeat at the hands of league leaders Palmeiras.
The two most recent league outings provide the most cause for concern for Diego Aguirre, as his side were firstly beaten 2-0 by fellow strugglers Sao Paulo, with Emiliano Rigoni opening the scoring after less than two minutes before Igor Gomes put the game to bed early in the second half.
Internacional then failed to break down basement side Gremio in their most recent game, collecting an underwhelming point after a goalless draw with a side yet to record a league win this season.
As a result of their poor form, Aguirre's men sit in 15th spot with a disappointing tally of 11 points from 11 games, meaning they could quickly be dragged into the relegation battle if Sport Recife, who sit four points behind in the drop zone, manage to pick up a victory in their next game.
After drawing 0-0 in the away leg of their Copa Sudamericana round-of-16 clash with Olimpia on Friday, the Clube do Povo will be desperate to end their winless run and begin a climb up the table.
They take on another side looking to move on from a poor run of form and put more distance between themselves and the relegation zone.
© Reuters
In their first season back in the top flight after winning promotion last year, Juventude had a strong start, collecting a commendable tally of 12 points from their opening eight games to sit comfortably in the top half of the table.
However, their form has taken a dip in recent weeks, with consecutive wins followed by a disappointing 2-0 defeat to Ceara, as Saulo Mineiro and Gabriel Lacerda each hitting a goal early in the second half.
Marquinhos Santos's men then fell to a second straight loss, as Matheus Bahia fired Bahia to a narrow 1-0 win with a goal in the final 15 minutes.
Juventude did prevent a worrying losing run from growing last time out, though, as Matheus Peixoto converted a 97th-minute penalty to see them hold Atletico Goianiense to a 1-1 draw, earning a commendable point against top-half opposition.
While they have slipped closer to the drop zone in recent weeks, the newly-promoted side will be hopeful of making a quick return to winning ways to rise back up the table, with the possibility of moving into the top half with a victory, depending on other results at the weekend.
- W
- D
- L
- D
- L
- D
- D
- W
- W
- L
- L
- D
Team News
© Reuters
Internacional should remain without several important players for the upcoming clash, with Mauricio, Rodrigo Moledo and Paolo Guerrero all continuing spells on the sidelines through injury.
Attacker Taison could also miss out, having been absent from the squad for the clash with Olimpia last time out.
The pairing of Rodrigo Dourado and Edenilson will continue to sit at the base of the midfield, having been a crucial part of the side throughout the season.
Yuri Alberto should again lead the line, despite only hitting one goal in 11 league appearances so far this season.
Juventude's only absentee should be midfielder Matheus Jesus, who is expected to continue his spell out of action through injury.
Their line will be led by Matheus Peixoto, who has hit six goals in 10 league games this season to keep his side out of danger.
He will likely be supported by 20-year-old winger Marcos Vinicios and experienced attacker Wescley.
Internacional possible starting lineup:
Daniel; Rodriguez, Cuesta, Mendez, Moises; Dourado, Edenilson; Vidal, Boschilia, Patrick; Alberto
Juventude possible starting lineup:
Carne; Michel, Mendes, Forster, Matheus; Elton, Castilho, Jadson; Vinicios, Peixoto, Wescley
We say: Internacional 1-1 Juventude
With both sides coming into the game in disappointing runs of form, this could certainly go either way, and we cannot split the two teams.
Both will be desperate to move on from disappointing starts to the season with a crucial win, but will likely play in fear of falling to another defeat, setting this up to be a cagey affair that could end level.
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 Internacional win with a probability of 61.13%. A draw had a probability of 22.9% and a win for Juventude had a probability of 15.94%.
The most likely scoreline for a Internacional win was 1-0 with a probability of 13.93%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (12.32%) and 2-1 (9.52%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (10.76%), while for a Juventude win it was 0-1 (6.08%). The actual scoreline of 1-0 was predicted with a 13.9% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted a 1-0 win for Internacional in this match.
