Juventude will look to keep their unbeaten run in Brasileiro going when they head to Estadio Governador Magalhaes Pinto to take on Cruzeiro on Wednesday night.
The hosts enter this contest in seventh place in the league standings after 17 matches, while the visitors are now up to 12th place and have played a game less than their opponents.
Match preview
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After successfully navigating their first season back in the top flight last year, Cruzeiro have improved even further this term, currently on 29 points, 14 clear of the drop and just one behind sixth-placed Bahia and a Copa Libertadores qualifier-round berth.
Raposa rattled off three wins in a row since the start of the month but were unable to overcome defending champions Palmeiras on the road last week, losing 2-0, which also marked the first goal the side had conceded in over 200 minutes of league football.
Under the guidance of Fernando Seabra, Cruzeiro have posted a record of nine wins, two draws and six losses, while the 27 goals they have scored is the current third-best tally in the division behind Flamengo (30) and Botafogo (29).
However, it has not only been in the domestic competition that Seabra's side have been performing well, as they also topped their group in the Copa Sudamericana unbeaten with 12 points in their six group-stage matches.
A major contributor to Cruzeiro's success so far has been their home record. They are currently on a nine-match winning streak in all competitions and are yet to taste defeat at Estadio Governador Magalhaes Pinto this season.
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Meanwhile, newly promoted Juventude will also be fairly content with their performance in their first season back in the big time, with their 21 points to date leaving them six clear of the dotted line with a game in hand on most of the sides around them.
After beating Internacional in the fourth round of the Copa do Brasil and taking a point off Atletico Mineiro last week, Verdao held high-flying Sao Paulo to a goalless draw over the weekend, which extended their current unbeaten run to five matches across all competitions.
That result would also have been seen as a very positive one for Jair Ventura in his first match in charge of Verdao after taking over from Roger Machado, who left the club on Thursday last week to join Internacional.
While Juventude have been excellent at home this season, they have been atrocious on the road, having failed to win a single of their seven away league games to date, six of which ended in defeat.
Additionally, it is worth noting that of the 20 goals that Juventude have conceded so far this season, 16 of them came on their travels, which is the joint-most allowed by any side in the division this term.
Team News
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Cruzeiro will have to make do without the services of Alvaro Barreal, who is suspended after crossing the yellow card threshold for the season against Palmeiras last time out; Fabrizio Peralta is currently away with Paraguay at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
In terms of injury absentees, Marlon, Rafael Silva and Juan Dinenno are all sidelined until next month at the earliest, while Walace is flagged as a doubt due to a knock.
Juventude will be unable to call on Rodrigo Sam and Jadson, both of whom are ineligible for selection for this match due to an accumulation of yellow cards.
Danilo Boza (hamstring), Ze Marcos (calf), Marcelinho (hamstring) and Edson Carioca (knee) are all ruled out of this weekend's lineup owing to injury.
Cruzeiro possible starting lineup:
Cassion; William, Ivaldo, Marcelo, Kaiki; Silva, Romero, Barreal; Gomes, Pereira, Veron
Juventude possible starting lineup:
Gabriel; Lucas, Vinicius, Freitas, Ruschel; Goncalves, Caique; Barbosa, Carlos, Farias; Oliveira
We say: Cruzeiro 2-1 Juventude
What we have here is a matchup between a side that has been flawless at home in the league this season, against an opponent who has yet to win an away game on the road this term. We feel the hosts will keep their excellent home record intact with another victory in this one.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Devesh Jaganath
