Juventude have another opportunity to climb out of relegation in the Campeonato Brasileiro Serie A when they play host to Bragantino from Estadio Alfredo Jaconi on Tuesday.
Both teams picked up a single point in their previous league fixture with goals in the second half as they each drew 1-1.
Match preview
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Since late October, Juve have been slowly able to dig themselves out of the relegation hole that they dug themselves, but there is still some work to do for Jair Ventura and his players.
On Tuesday, they conceded first for the second match running but remained patient and kept plugging away before being rewarded with a much deserved equaliser in the 88th minute.
That was the sixth time in their previous seven encounters in which they have been able to collect at least a point, but unfortunately that draw with Palemeiras at the beginning of October is still coming back to haunt them, as they had the lead in that game only to play to a 1-1 draw in a match where had they been able to hold onto their lead they would be above that relegation line at the moment.
Juve are unbeaten in six straight home contests coming into this match and are only behind Bahia due to the fact that they have one victory fewer than them in league play.
For the way that they set up they have some decent playmakers, who can create chances in the middle of the field, their defenders out wide have not provided enough coming up from the back.
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The November woes continued for Mauricio Barbieri in their last encounter as his side could only produce one goal on Saturday versus America Mineiro, as they have only won once in their previous seven matches in all competitions.
At the moment this team look a little snake-bit, as they are struggling to find solutions in the final third, scoring only once in their last three matches, and firing only nine targeted efforts over that span, including only two versus Athletico Paranaense in the final of the Copa Sudamericana last weekend.
Even though they have failed to get maximum points numerous times of late, it has not affected their standing all that much as they remain in fifth which would put them in the Copa Libertadores qualifying round next year.
Throughout the domestic campaign they have been able to open up the field with some outstanding movement and dribbling from their wide players, who until this month did a fantastic job of picking out those spaces in behind the fullbacks of opposing teams.
They need just one more positive result to beat their top-flight record for points in a domestic campaign, having matched their total from a season ago (53) on Sunday even though their pass accuracy was lacking just a little at 78%.
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Team News
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Ricardo Bueno scored his sixth goal of the season in their 1-1 draw with Goianiense as Francisco Hyun-sol Kim collected his first assist of the year on that play.
The departure of their leading goalscorer Matheus Peixoto seems to have brought this team closer together as they have had a number of players step up to fill his void, including Vitor Mendes and Guilherme Castilho, who have three goals between them this month, while Wagner chipped in with two goals in their 2-1 win over Braga back in August, his only two of the domestic season thus far.
Bragantino remain without Emiliano Martinez, who is ineligible to play at the moment and unlikely to be available in any of their final three league games.
Arthur scored the equaliser on Saturday, his ninth of the campaign, putting him two back of Ytalo for the team lead, and Bruno Praxedes collected his first assist of the season.
Juventude possible starting lineup:
Friedrich; Forster, Quintero, Mendes, Michel; Vinicios, Castilho, Bilu, Jadson; Bueno, Wescley
Bragantino possible starting lineup:
Cleiton; Aderlan, Bruno, Ortiz, Candido; Jadsom, Martinez; Arthur, Praxedes, Novaes; Ytalo
We say: Juventude 1-0 Bragantino
Juventude have been playing with a much more proactive approach of late, and they will need to again on Tuesday as they are fighting hard to try to remain in the top flight.
As entertaining as Braga have been to watch this year, it is clear that they still have some growing to do and need to find some more consistency, as they appear to be a little disjointed at the moment, and they are winless in their last five road fixtures in the league, having been shut out of their previous three.
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 Juventude win with a probability of 41.12%. A win for Bragantino had a probability of 30.46% and a draw had a probability of 28.4%.
The most likely scoreline for a Juventude win was 1-0 with a probability of 12.87%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.18%) and 2-0 (7.98%). The likeliest Bragantino win was 0-1 (10.64%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (13.19%). The actual scoreline of 1-0 was predicted with a 12.9% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole and our data analysis both correctly predicted a 1-0 win for Juventude in this match.
