Sporting Lisbon will be looking to further strengthen their position at the top of the Primeira Liga table on Saturday when they welcome Vitoria de Guimaraes to the Estadio Jose Alvalade.
The league leaders made it eight victories from their last nine league games with a home win over Tondela last time out, while Vitoria will be hoping to bounce back from a disappointing defeat to strugglers Gil Vicente.
Match preview
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Sporting Lisbon extended their lead at the top of the table to 10 points thanks to a win over Tondela last time out.
It was not as comfortable as Ruben Amorim would have liked though, with the game settled at 0-0 for the majority of the encounter, until young forward Tiago Tomas netted the winner in the 81st minute to seal all three points for his side.
That goal secured a 19th league win of the season for Os Leoes after 23 matches, while they remain unbeaten in the top flight, boasting an impressive tally of 61 points from a possible 69 at this stage of the campaign.
As a result, Amorim's men now look well on track to lift the 19th Primeira Liga trophy in their history, and their first since 2002.
That is largely down to their strong defensive record so far this campaign, with no other side conceding as few as the 11 that Os Verde e Brancos have shipped.
They have not been solely carried by that back line though, with only Porto topping the 45 goals that the Lisbon outfit have netted at the other end of the pitch, creating a dangerous combination that should fire them to the title.
However, they face another tough obstacle on Saturday, when they host a sixth-placed Vitoria outfit who will be looking to return to winning ways after a patch of poor form.
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Joao Henriques's side suffered a second consecutive league defeat last time out, falling to a 4-2 loss at home to 13th-placed Gil Vicente.
Os Vimaranenses were fighting an uphill battle from the start as Abdul Mumin was shown a red card after 15 minutes, while goals from Diogo Rochinha and Ruben Lameiras came in vain as the visitors cruised to a comfortable win.
That followed an away defeat to third-placed Braga, as Lucas Piazon, Abel Ruiz and Andraz Sporar fired the Archbishops to a dominant 3-0 victory.
Henriques will be desperate to stop the run of form which has seen his side pick up just one win from their last eight league outings.
However, they could not face many tougher tasks on Saturday, as they face a Sporting Lisbon outfit who are marching towards the league title.
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Team News
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Despite not getting on the pitch, Joao Pereira was shown a red card in the last game, and he will be suspended for this encounter.
A more worrying omission for Amorim will be captain Sebastian Coates, who picked up his fifth yellow card of the season in the victory over Tondela.
They have also recently suffered from a COVID-19 outbreak, with Matheus Nunes and Vitorino Antunes both out of contention.
Attacker Paulinho is also expected to remain out, having missed the last four games with a hamstring injury.
In his absence, Tiago Tomas has impressed in the centre-forward role, netting the winner last time out.
Vitoria de Guimaraes will be without Abdul Mumin, who will serve a suspension after he was shown a red card in the defeat to Gil Vicente.
The natural replacement for Mensah at centre-back would be Easah Suliman, but he will also serve a suspension after he received a fifth yellow card of the season in that defeat when he came off the bench.
On a more positive note for Henriques, January signing Lameiras did net his first goal for the club last time out after a tough first few games, and he could be pushing for a return to the starting lineup.
Sporting Lisbon possible starting lineup:
Adan; Inacio, Neto, Feddal; Porro, Palhinha, Mario, Mendes; Goncalves, Tomas, Santos
Vitoria de Guimaraes possible starting lineup:
Varela; Ouattara, Fernandes, Sacko, Mensah; Andre, Pepelu, Almeida; Rochinha, Estupinan, Lameiras
We say: Sporting Lisbon 2-1 Vitoria de Guimaraes
While the loss of Coates could be a big one for Sporting, we still fancy them to continue their strong run of form with another win on Saturday.
Vitoria do undoubtedly possess plenty of quality, but they do not look a coherent outfit at the moment, and that should lead to a defeat away at the ruthless league leaders.
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 Sporting Lisbon win with a probability of 53.3%. A draw had a probability of 25.8% and a win for Vitoria de Guimaraes had a probability of 20.96%.
The most likely scoreline for a Sporting Lisbon win was 1-0 with a probability of 14.04%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (10.78%) and 2-1 (9.23%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (12.02%), while for a Vitoria de Guimaraes win it was 0-1 (7.83%). The actual scoreline of 1-0 was predicted with a 14% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted a 1-0 win for Sporting Lisbon in this match.
