Fresh off the back of contrasting midweek results in Europe, Porto and Braga return to action in the Portuguese Primeira Liga when they go head to head at the Estadio do Dragao on Sunday.
Having lost the last three meetings between the teams, Os Arcebispos will head into the weekend looking to get one over the hosts and make it three wins on the bounce for the first time since March.
Match preview
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Porto were left spitting feathers in the Europa League on Thursday as they were held to a 3-3 draw by 10-man Manchester United after conceding a 91st-minute equaliser at the Estadio do Dragao.
After falling two goals behind through strikes from Marcus Rashford and Rasmus Hojlund, the hosts upped the ante and turned the game on its head through a brace from Samu Omorodion and Pepe's 27th-minute effort, but a stoppage-time header from Harry Maguire handed Manchester United a hard-fought point.
Porto now turn their attention to the Primeira Liga, where they have picked up six wins from their opening seven matches this season, with a 2-0 defeat against rivals Sporting Lisbon on August 31 being the exception.
Having secured a third-placed finish in the league last season, Vitor Bruno's men have picked up 18 points from the first 21 available this term to sit second in the table, three points behind first-placed Sporting Lisbon.
Following the midweek result against Manchester United, Porto head into Sunday's clash unbeaten in each of their last 10 home games across all competitions, picking up seven wins and three draws since a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Vitoria de Guimaraes on April 7.
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Having picked up a 2-1 opening-day victory over Maccabi Tel Aviv on September 26, Braga were denied a second consecutive victory in the Europa League on Thursday when they suffered a 3-0 defeat against Olympiacos at the Karaiskakis Stadium.
Moroccan forward Ayoub El Kaabi opened the scoring on the stroke of half time to swing the momentum in favour of the Greek outfit, and after Santiago Hezze doubled the lead in the 54th minute, El Kaabi netted his second of the game to put the result beyond reach.
Braga now return to action in the Primeira Liga, where they have enjoyed a solid start to the campaign, picking up one draw and four wins, including a 4-0 victory over Rio Ave last Saturday.
Os Arcebispos' only league defeat this season came on September 15, when they were beaten 2-0 by Vitoria de Guimaraes at the Estadio Braga Municipal courtesy of goals from Joao Mendes and Tomas Ribeiro.
While Carlos Carvalhal's men will be looking to return to winning ways this weekend, next up is the stern challenge of taking on an opposing side who are unbeaten in 15 of the last 20 meetings between the two teams, claiming 11 wins and four draws since January 2009.
Team News
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Porto will take to the pitch without the defensive duo of Nigerian full-back Zaidu Sanusi and 37-year-old Ivan Marcano, who have been sidelined through ACL injuries.
They are joined on the club's injury table by Spanish forward Fran Navarro, who has missed each of the last four matches since picking up a muscle problem back in September.
Summer signing Omorodion has hit the ground running since joining from Atletico Madrid and the 20-year-old, who has seven goals in his seven games this season, will be one to keep an eye on.
As for Braga, Carvalhal will be unable to call upon the services of veteran midfielder Joao Moutinho and Brazilian defender Robson Bambu, who have been sidelined through calf and muscle injuries respectively.
Rodrigo Zalazar has missed each of Os Arcebispos' last four matches since coming off with an injury against Vitoria de Guimaraes on September 15 and the Uruguay international will play no part in this weekend's clash.
Porto possible starting lineup:
Costa; Mario, Ze Pedro, Perez; Moura, Sousa; Varela; Pepe, Gonzalez, Galeno; Omorodion
Braga possible starting lineup:
Lima; Ferreira, Gomez, Niakate, Marin; Carvalho, Gorby; Horta, Gharbi, Martinez Jaen
We say: Porto 3-1 Braga
Braga have lost each of their last four Primeira Liga visits to the Estadio do Dragao and are in for another tough 90 against a Porto side who are unbeaten in 10 straight competitive home games.
While we expect Carvalhal's men to put up a fight, Porto boast the firepower needed to get the job done, and we are backing them to come away with all three points in front of their home supporters.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Joshua Ojele
