Vitoria de Guimaraes, aiming to maintain their flawless start to the 2024-25 Conference League, are set to take on Astana on Thursday afternoon for matchday four of the league phase.
The visitors sit fifth in the table with nine points from three matches, while the hosts find themselves outside the qualification spots in 25th place, with three points from their three outings.
Match preview
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Vitoria have enjoyed a largely positive start to the season, sitting sixth in the Liga Portugal table with 18 points after 11 games, from five wins, three draws and three defeats, and fifth in the Conference League table with nine points from three games, having won all three matches.
Vitoria have consistently secured Conference League qualification spots over the past three seasons, finishing sixth in 2021-22 and 2022-23 and fifth in 2023-24, but only managed to reach the competition proper this term after early qualifying exits in their first two attempts.
They defeated Floriana, FC Zurich and HSK Zrinjski Mostar in the qualifying rounds and have subsequently beaten NK Celje, Djurgardens IF and Mlada Boleslav in their first three league phase fixtures, leaving them with a flawless record in Europe this term.
Rui Borges, in charge since July 2024, has also had a positive start in domestic competitions, losing just four of their 14 matches thus far, including just two of their last 11 across all competitions.
Aiming to maintain that strong run of form, as well as continue their perfect beginning to the league phase, Vitoria will face a struggling Astana side on Thursday.
The hosts have experienced a rollercoaster of emotions in recent weeks, narrowly missing out on the Kazakhstan Premier League title to Kairat Almaty by just one point, finishing on 46 points to Kairat's 47, but bouncing back to claim the Kazakhstan League Cup trophy in their most recent outing.
While they are undoubtedly one of the dominant forces in Kazakhstan, Astana have suffered a challenging opening to the Conference League, coming into this game sat outside of the qualification places in 25th.
Grigoriy Babayan's side have won one and lost two of their first three matches, scoring one and conceding three in that time, leaving them with just three points.
With tough matches against Chelsea and APOEL Nicosia on the horizon, Astana are in dire need of points on Thursday to bolster their chances of advancing.
Team News
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Astana have no recent injury issues to contend with coming into this match, meaning they could name a similar side to the one that lifted the Kazakhstan League Cup last time out.
Geoffrey Chinedu Charles was Astana's top scorer in the league with seven goals in just 10 appearances, and the hosts are likely to rely on him for the goals again here.
The visitors are likely to be without Jorge Fernandes, who has been sidelined with a shoulder injury since August, but he is expected to be their only absentee for Borges to contend with.
Despite scoring seven goals in their three matches, Vitoria's goals have been spread throughout the squad, with Tiago Silva leading the way with two goals in three games, and the midfielder is expected to start alongside Manuel Silva here.
Astana possible starting lineup:
Seisen; Bartolec, Kazukolovas, Kalaica, Vorogovskiy; Ebong, Amanovic; Tomasov, Gripshi, Camara; Charles
Vitoria de Guimaraes possible starting lineup:
Varela; Gaspar, Rivas, Borevkovic, Mendes; T Silva, M Silva; Arcanjo, Cesar; Mendes, Ramirez
We say: Astana 0-2 Vitoria de Guimaraes
Vitoria have had the perfect start to the league phase thus far with three wins, while Astana sit outside the qualification places altogether, leading us to believe the visitors will comfortably win here.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Ellis Stevens
