Seeking to pick up their first win of the new Portuguese Primeira Liga campaign, AVS play host to Vitoria de Guimaraes at the Estadio do Desportivo das Aves on Sunday.
Os Vimaranenses head into the weekend fresh off the back of an emphatic victory in the Europa Conference League playoffs and will be looking to make it six wins from six to start the season.
Match preview
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AVS were denied their first win of the season as they suffered a 4-2 defeat against Gil Vicente when the two sides squared off at the Estadio Cidade de Barcelos last Friday.
After Jorge Aguirre and Kanya Fujimoto scored in a four-minute spell to cancel out Kiki Afonso's 32nd-minute opener, Nene netted on the stroke of half time to draw the visitors level, but Fujimoto struck twice in the second half to complete a sensational hat-trick and fire the Gilistas to their first league win.
Prior to that, AVS kicked off the 2024-25 Primeira Liga campaign with a 1-1 draw against fellow newcomers Nacional on August 10, when Miguel Baeza and John Mercado scored for either side to force a share of the spoils at the Estadio do Desportivo das Aves.
Having picked up a 4-2 aggregate victory over Portimonense in the playoff final to secure promotion to the top tier for the first time in club history, Vitor Campelos's men will head into the weekend looking to secure their first-ever top-flight win and get up and running in the big leagues.
However, AVS have struggled to impose themselves on home turf as they have won just one of their six matches at the Estadio do Desportivo das Aves while losing three and claiming two draws since going on a run of four back-to-back victories between January and March.
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Vitoria de Guimaraes, on the other hand, placed one foot in the Conference League as they stormed to a 3-0 victory over Zrinjski Mostar in the first leg of their playoff clash last Wednesday.
Following a relatively uneventful first half at the Estadio Dom Afonso Henriques, the hosts upped the ante after the break as Ricardo Mangas, Toni Borevkovic and Joao Mendes all found the back of the net to see off the Bosnian outfit.
Vitoria de Guimaraes had stormed through the first two qualifying rounds as they kicked off their quest for European football with a 5-0 aggregate victory over Malta-based side Floriana FC before seeing off FC Zurich 5-0 over two legs in the third round.
Rui Borges' men now turn their attention to the Primeira Liga, where they have enjoyed a solid start to the new campaign, picking up two wins from their opening two matches while scoring two goals and keeping two clean sheets.
A first-half strike from Nelson Oliveira fired Guimaraes to a 1-0 win over 10-man Arouca at the Estadio Municipal de Arouca in the league curtain-raiser on August 12, six days before they held firm to secure a 1-0 victory over Estoril Praia.
Os Vimaranenses have now won each of their last 12 matches across all competitions, stretching back to a narrow 3-2 defeat at the hands of Braga on May 11, and have kept seven clean sheets in each of their seven games in all competitions this season.
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Team News
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AVS will take to the pitch without the services of Brazilian striker Samuel Granada, who is currently suspended after coming off injured against Gil Vicente last Friday.
In his absence, Yair Mena will push for his first start of the campaign, forming the front three with Mercado and 41-year-old Nene, who opened his account against the Gilistas.
At the defensive end of the pitch, Leo Alaba, Cristian Devenish, Sampaio Pereira and Afonso should form the back four once again, while Giorgi Aburjania, Baptiste Roux and Lucas Piazon should retain their roles in the centre of the park.
Tiago Silva was a standout performer for Vitoria de Guimaraes against Zrinjski and the 31-year-old, who has four assists in his last three games, will be one to keep an eye on.
With his strike against Zrinjski, Mangas now has five goal involvements in the Conference League qualifiers and the 26-year-old should lead Os Vimaranenses' attack, alongside Oliveira and Kaio Cesar.
AVS possible starting lineup:
Bertelli; Alaba, Devenish, Pereira, Afonso; Aburjania, Roux, Piazon; Granada, Nene, Mercado
Vitoria de Guimaraes possible starting lineup:
Varela; Gaspar, Borevkovic, Villanueva, Mendes; Silva, Handel, Samu; Arcanjo, Ramirez, Mangas
We say: AVS 1-3 Vitoria de Guimaraes
Vitoria de Guimaraes have flown out of the blocks this season and will be backing themselves against an inexperienced AVS side. While we expect the hosts to put up a fight, we predict that Os Vimaranenses will pick up where they left off in midweek and secure a comfortable victory at the Estadio do Desportivo das Aves.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Joshua Ojele
