After a poor start to their Primeira Liga campaign, Estoril Praia are in the spotlight and hoping to turn things around against Portimonense at the Estadio Municipal de Portimao on Saturday.
Both teams go into this match on the back of successful performances in last week's Portuguese Cup competition, as Portimonense advanced to the next round after a 4-1 win over Covilha, while Estoril Praia recorded a commanding 5-0 victory over Sintrense.
Match preview
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Portimonense's form has been shaky lately, often failing to carry momentum into the next game after a win in the previous one.
They won two of their four games in the Portuguese league last month, away at Vitoria de Guimaraes and Vizela, but in between they faced two of Portugal's biggest football clubs in Benfica and FC Porto, losing both 3-1 and 1-0 respectively.
In their last encounter in the Primeira Liga against Porto, they were completely outclassed throughout the game despite the narrow margin of defeat, with Porto enjoying 70% possession as Portimonense suffered a loss that keeps them in the bottom half of the table with eight points after eight games.
Surprisingly, Portimonense have fallen far short of their potential on home soil this season; they are one of only two teams still winless after three games, losing to Benfica and Boavista and drawing against Estrela Amadora.
Estoril, on the other hand, are already in the midst of a relegation battle, sitting bottom of the Primeira Liga with just four points and a single win in eight games.
Most recently in the league they lost 1-0 to Benfica, and before that they were beaten by Vitoria despite leading 2-0 in the first half, conceding three goals in the second half after a red card for Jordan Holsgrove, resulting in a painful defeat.
Those two defeats extended Estoril's winless league run to six matches losing five of them, with the only point coming in a 2-2 draw against Vizela over a month ago.
As expected, Vasco Seabra's side have performed very poorly away from home this season, losing all four of their games and conceding two or more goals in each of them.
Team News
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Kosuke Nakamura is the only player currently injured for Portimonense. The Japanese goalkeeper is out indefinitely, having last played over a month ago, with the backup goalkeeper Vinicius Silvestre playing as his substitute in recent weeks.
Otherwise, right wing-back Guga is expected to return to the starting XI after missing the cup match against Covilha, while Igor Formiga is expected to return to the bench.
In attack, Carlinhos has been a key player for Portimonense this season - the midfielder leads the club's scoring charts with four goals and will be the one to watch out for on Saturday.
The visitors also have some injury concerns, as Erick Cabaco and Eliaquim Mangala are out due to injury. Alvaro, Freites and Vital are expected to strengthen Estoril's back line on Saturday.
The visitors from Estoril are led by Joao Marques and Alejandro Marques, who have scored three times each.
Portimonense possible starting lineup:
Vinicius Silvestre; Pedrao, Alemao, Filipe Relvas, Guga, Seck; Dener, Carlinhos; Jasper, Varela, Carrillo
Estoril Praia possible starting lineup:
Carne; Gomes, Feltes, Alvaro, Vital, Araujo; Guitane, Koindredi, Fernandes, Tavares; Cassiano
We say: Portimonense 2-1 Estoril Praia
Neither team can boast impressive performances in the Primeira Liga this season, but Portimonense enter this match as favourites with home field advantage on their side.
The 5-0 away win in the Taca de Portugal may have given Estoril confidence, but their away record this season suggests it will be very difficult to pick up at least a point on Saturday.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
