Moreirense will be aiming to end their six-game winless run when they play host to Vitoria de Guimaraes at the Parque de Jogos Comendador Joaquim de Almeida Freitas on Sunday.
While Os verdes e brancos claimed a 3-2 victory when the sides met in the Taca de Portugal back in November, they are without a win in any of their last eight Primeira Liga encounters and will be looking to end this dry spell.
Match preview
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Moreirense failed to move clear of the relegation places two Sundays ago when they suffered a 2-1 defeat against Pacos de Ferreira at the Estadio Capital do Movel.
After falling behind to Adrian Butzke's first-half opener, Yan Santos restored parity five minutes after the break before Brazilian forward Uilton scored his first goal of the season in the 70th minute to hand the Pacenses all three points.
Ricardo Sa Pinto's men have now lost each of their most recent three games, shipping five goals and scoring one in that time, while managing just one point in their last six outings since a 4-1 victory over Belenenses back in February.
With 20 points from 27 games this season, Moreirense are currently second-bottom in the Primeira Liga standings, two points above last-placed Belenenses and three adrift of Arouca just outside the relegation zone.
Their struggles this season have been down to a lack of sting in attack, where they have scored the second-fewest number of goals (24), with their luck at the opposite end of the pitch not any better after conceding 44 goals so far.
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Elsewhere, Vitoria de Guimaraes failed to make it three consecutive league victories for the first time this season last time out when they were beaten 3-1 by Sporting Lisbon at the Dom Afonso Henriques.
Oscar Estupinan and Pablo Sarabia scored for either side to end the first half level, but Paulinho gave the defending champions the lead in the 70th minute before substitute Marcus Edwards put the icing on the cake with his 98th-minute strike.
Prior to that, Pepa's side claimed a 2-1 home victory over Famalicao on March 6 to end their three-match losing streak before seeing off Maritimo 1-0 at the Estadio do Maritimo one week later.
Vitoria de Guimaraes have now won 10, drawn six and lost 11 of their 27 league games this season to collect 36 points and sit sixth in the table, 10 points off fifth-placed Gil Vicente in the final Conference League qualification spot.
However, Os Vimaranenses will fancy their chances of returning to winning ways against an opposing side who they are unbeaten against in each of the last eight Primeira Liga meetings between the teams, claiming five wins and three draws since a 2-1 loss back in 2017.
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Team News
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Moreirense will take to the pitch without former Everton midfielder Kevin Mirallas, who picked up an injury in the 1-0 defeat versus Maritimo on March 6.
Having scored just two goals in their last six games, Sa Pinto could make a few changes in attack, with Rafael Martins returning to the fold at the expense of Walterson Silva, who failed to make his mark against the Pacenses last time out.
Vitoria de Guimaraes, meanwhile, will be without the services of Portuguese midfielder Tomas Handel, who is set to sit out his fifth consecutive game through injury.
He is joined on Os Vimaranenses injury table by fellow countryman Joao Ferreira after the 21-year-old defender came off injured against Arouca back in February.
With his strike against Sporting Lisbon, Estupinan has now scored six goals in nine outings this year and the Colombian forward will look to deliver the goods once again.
Moreirense possible starting lineup:
Pasinato; Amador, Rosic, Santos, Mota; Jefferson, Franco, Pacheco; Santos, Luis, Martins
Vitoria de Guimaraes possible starting lineup:
Varela; Soares, Fernandes, Mumin, Maga; Almeida, Semedo; Lameiras, Silva, Rochinha; Estupinan
We say: Moreirense 1-2 Vitoria de Guimaraes
Moreirense have struggled to get going this season and find themselves second from bottom in the standings. They now face the stern test of going up against a Vitoria de Guimaraes side who they have failed to beat in the league since 2017. We predict Os Vimaranenses will extend their dominance and come away with all three points against the out-of-sorts hosts.
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 Vitoria de Guimaraes win with a probability of 45.77%. A win for Moreirense had a probability of 27.68% and a draw had a probability of 26.5%.
The most likely scoreline for a Vitoria de Guimaraes win was 0-1 with a probability of 11.99%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (8.99%) and 0-2 (8.57%). The likeliest Moreirense win was 1-0 (8.8%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.57%). The actual scoreline of 0-1 was predicted with an 12% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted a 0-1 win for Vitoria de Guimaraes in this match and our team at Sports Mole correctly predicted the win for Vitoria de Guimaraes.
