Seeking to pick up their third win on the trot for the first time this season, Pacos de Ferreira take a trip to the Estadio Jose Alvalade to face Sporting Lisbon on Sunday.
The hosts, on the other hand, head into the game unbeaten in each of their most recent eight Primeira Liga outings and will look to keep the juggernaut rolling.
Match preview
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Reigning champions Sporting Lisbon ensured they remain within touching distance with Porto at the top of the Primeira Liga standings when they claimed a 3-1 victory at Vitoria de Guimaraes two Saturdays ago.
After falling behind to Oscar Estupinan's 23rd-minute opener, Pablo Sarabia restored parity from the spot on the stroke of half time before Paulinho and Marcus Edwards scored second-half goals to turn the game on its head.
Sporting Lisbon head into the weekend unbeaten in each of their most recent eight games, claiming six wins and two draws since a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Braga on January 22.
Ruben Amorim's side have now won 21, drawn four and lost two of their 27 games this season to collect 67 points and sit in second place, six points adrift of Porto at the top of the standings.
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Meanwhile, after a slow start to the season, Cesar Peixoto will be impressed with his side's recent upturn in form as they have risen to ninth place in the standings after claiming 33 points from 27 games.
Pacos de Ferreira picked up a second consecutive win for just the third time this season when they saw off a resilient Moreirense side 2-1 on home turf last time out.
In an action-packed contest at the Estadio Capital do Movel, newly-signed forward Adrian Butzke and Uilton scored either side of Yan Santos's 50th-minute leveller to hand the hosts all three points.
The Pacenses have now won all but one of their most recent five outings — scoring nine goals and keeping two clean sheets — with a 4-2 defeat against Porto on March 6 being the only exception.
While Pacos de Ferreira will look to keep this fine run going, next up is an opposing side who have won each of the last 12 meetings between the sides since a 1-1 draw back in 2015.
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Team News
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Sarabia carried his fine form into the international break, netting twice for Spain against Iceland last Tuesday and we expect the Paris Saint-Germain loanee to lead the Sporting Lisbon attack once again.
He should be supported by veteran forward Islam Slimani, who has four goals and one assist in seven appearances since joining the club back in January.
Meanwhile, Peixoto will be unable to call upon the services of Brazilian defender Flavio Ramos, who picked up a muscle injury in November's game against Maritimo.
He is joined on the Pacenses injury table by defender Joao Vigario and 25-year-old Jorge Silva, who are recuperating from knee and ankle injuries respectively.
French youngster Ndri Koffi will also play no part in Sunday's game after the 20-year-old forward picked up an injury versus Braga back in February.
Butzke, who moved to Pacos de Ferreira from Granada back in January, opened his account for the club against Moreirense last time out and should retain his place in the XI.
Sporting Lisbon possible starting lineup:
Adan; Neto, Coates, Feddal; Porro, Nunes, Ugarte, Reis; Paulinho, Slimani, Sarabia
Pacos de Ferreira possible starting lineup:
Ferreira; Antunes, Lima, Baixinho, Delgado; Carlos, Santos; Ferreira, Gaitain, Uilton; Butzke
We say: Sporting Lisbon 3-0 Pacos de Ferreira
Sporting Lisbon have been imperious in past encounters between the sides and will be backing themselves to claim all three points once again. While we expect the Pacenses to put up a fight, we predict the hosts will come out victorious and keep their title hopes alive.
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 Sporting Lisbon win with a probability of 68.05%. A draw had a probability of 19.7% and a win for Pacos de Ferreira had a probability of 12.23%.
The most likely scoreline for a Sporting Lisbon win was 2-0 with a probability of 13.11%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (12.88%) and 2-1 (9.5%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (9.33%), while for a Pacos de Ferreira win it was 0-1 (4.58%). The actual scoreline of 2-0 was predicted with a 13.1% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted a 2-0 win for Sporting Lisbon in this match and our team at Sports Mole correctly predicted the win for Sporting Lisbon.
