Seeking to pick up their first win of the new Primeira Liga campaign, newly-promoted Rio Ave square off against Porto at the Estadio dos Arcos on Sunday.
The Portuguese champions, on the other hand, head into the weekend on a blistering run of 11 consecutive victories across all competitions and will look to march on in the same vein.
Match preview
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Rio Ave were denied their first win since their return to the top flight as they were held to a 2-2 draw by Estoril Praia when the sides met at the Estadio Antonio Coimbra da Mota last Friday.
Costinha and Aziz scored 12 minutes apart to cancel out Rodrigo Martins's first-half opener and put the visitors ahead, but Tiago Gouveia struck with 10 minutes left to play to force a share of the spoils.
Prior to that, Luis Freire's side kicked off the 2022-23 Primeira Liga campaign with two successive defeats, losing 1-0 against Vizela in their curtain-raiser on August 6 before they were beaten 3-0 by Sporting Lisbon one week later.
The Vilacondenses, who finished first in the Segunda Liga last season, are now winless in five of their last six games across all competitions — losing three and picking up two draws — with July's 1-0 friendly win over Academico Viseu being the exception.
While Rio Ave will be looking to get their league campaign up and running, next up is the daunting challenge of taking on a Porto side who are unbeaten in their last 20 encounters, picking up 16 wins and four draws since April 2010.
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Sergio Conceicao's men could not have hoped for a better start to their Primeira Liga title defence as they head into the weekend as the only side to win their opening three games of the new season.
Having kicked off their domestic campaign with a 3-0 win over Tondela in the Portuguese Super Cup final, Porto saw off Maritimo and Vizela in their first two league assignments, scoring six goals and conceding once over both games.
The reigning champions made it three wins from three last Saturday courtesy of a 3-0 victory over rivals Sporting Lisbon, with Evanilson, Matheus Uribe and Wanderson Galeno finding the target to hand the Leoes their first defeat of the season.
Porto, who have been drawn into Group B of this season's Champions League alongside Atletico Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen and Club Brugge, head into the weekend on a run of 11 consecutive wins across all competitions, stretching back to April's 1-0 loss against Braga.
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Team News
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Joao Ferreira will be absent from the Rio Ave matchday squad after the 21-year-old Benfica loanee picked up a straight red late in the game against Estoril Praia last weekend.
On the injury front, Freire will be unable to call upon the services of Brazilian defender Junior Rocha, who has been sidelined through a broken leg.
As far as Porto are concerned, 28-year-old defender Wilson Manafa continues his spell on the sidelines after coming off with a severe injury back in December.
Former Liverpool midfielder Marko Grujic is also a doubt for the reigning champions after the 26-year-old missed last week's game against Sporting Lisbon through injury.
Mehdi Taremi and Evanilson have hit the ground running this season, and the duo, who have a hand in six of Porto's nine goals this season, should spearhead the attack once again.
Rio Ave possible starting lineup:
Jhonatan; Nobrega, Santos, Pantalon; Costinha, Guga, Gomes, Joca, Amaral; Yakubu, Ronaldo
Porto possible starting lineup:
Costa; Mario, Pepe, Marcano, Sanusi; Otavio, Costa, Uribe, Pepe; Evanilson, Taremi
We say: Rio Ave 0-3 Porto
Porto have flown out of the blocks this season, winning each of their opening three games. The Dragoes next task tees them up against a floundering Rio Ave side and we predict they will extend their dominance over the Vilacondenses.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Joshua Ojele
