Fresh off the back of ending their 10-game winless streak, Maritimo take a trip to the Estadio do Bessa to square off against Boavista in round 13 of the Portuguese Primeira Liga.
The hosts, meanwhile, will be looking to get one over the visitors after failing to pick up a win when the sides met in both home and away fixtures last season.
Match preview
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Boavista were left empty-handed once again as they suffered a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Arouca at the Estadio Municipal de Arouca.
In an action-packed contest, Petar Musa struck nine minutes into the second half to cancel out Oday Dabbagh's 11th-minute opener but Antony Alves came up trumps for the hosts as he grabbed the winner in the 91st minute.
Boavista have now lost each of their last three games on the trot, conceding nine goals and scoring four in that time, while they have failed to taste victory in any of their last seven.
This poor run of results could be pinned to their woeful performance away from home, where they are yet to pick up a win and boast the league's second-worst record with just two points from six games.
Joao Pedro Sousa's side have also struggled to get going at the defensive end of the pitch, where they have shipped 22 goals in 12 games to date — with only Santa Clara conceding more.
With 11 points amassed so far, Boavista are currently 11th in the Primeira Liga standings, level on points with Pacos de Ferreira, but could rise as high as ninth with all three points on Sunday.
Maritimo, on the other hand, returned to winning ways last time out when they edged out Pacos de Ferreira 2-0 at the Estadio do Maritimo.
Vasco Seabra's men went into the game on a run of 10 games without a win across all competitions, picking up four wins and losing six since a slender 2-1 win over Belenenses back in August, and were seeking a morale-boosting victory.
Following a drab first half, Cameroonian forward Joel Tagueu put Maritimo ahead four minutes after the interval before substitute Stefano Beltrame made sure of the result with a 78th-minute strike.
The result last time out saw O Maior das Ilhas rise from the drop zone and into 15th place, level on 10 points with Famalicao and Vizela, who are also hovering just outside the relegation places.
Seabra will hope the win can serve as a springboard for a fine run of form as they look to move clear of the bottom three and boost their chances of survival after an unconvincing start to the campaign.
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Team News
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Veteran midfielder Javi Garcia is set to miss his third game on the spin after sustaining an injury in the game against Porto back in October.
However, Boavista will be boosted by the return of the defensive duo of right-back Reggie Cannon and centre-back Rodrigo Abascal, who both sat out the game against Arouca through suspension after picking up red cards in the defeat to Famalicao on November 5.
On the other hand, Xadas is out of contention for the visitors after the Portuguese midfielder sustained a knee injury against Tondela a little under one month ago.
Argentine midfielder Ivan Rossi was shown his fifth yellow card of the season in the win over Pacos de Ferreira last time out and will sit out Sunday's game through suspension.
In his absence, Italian midfielder Stefano Beltrame could come into the fold for just his second starting appearance of the season after a bright performance off the bench in the aforementioned game.
Boavista possible starting lineup:
Beiranvand; Cannon, Santos, Abascal, Hamache; Perez, Sauer; Morais, Njie, Gorre; Musa
Maritimo possible starting lineup:
Victor; China, Leo, Junior, Winck; Mendes, Beltrame; Guitane, Costa, Vidigal; Tageue
We say: Boavista 1-1 Maritimo
Maritimo will head into the game in sky-high spirits after picking up just their second win of the campaign. Boavista have seen their form suffer a decline in recent months and will be looking to arrest this poor form and move into the top half of the table. With just one point separating them on the log, we expect a thrilling contest on Sunday with the spoils shared between the two evenly-matched teams.
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 Boavista win with a probability of 45.24%. A draw had a probability of 28.3% and a win for Maritimo had a probability of 26.43%.
The most likely scoreline for a Boavista win was 1-0 with a probability of 14.13%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (9.17%) and 2-1 (8.43%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (12.99%), while for a Maritimo win it was 0-1 (10.02%). The actual scoreline of 1-1 was predicted with a 13% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole correctly predicted a 1-1 draw for this match.
