Desportivo das Aves managed a very narrow win against second Division team Oliveirense. Once again, the team from Vila das Aves had many problems to score, although they did create a good number of good goal chances. The final 1-0 outcome was a fair result, but nevertheless, Aves was expected to be more dominant. Hosting the current league leaders, coach Neca has a full squad to choose from, since Leandro that has been training lightly should return in time to take on Porto.
Porto comes from one of their biggest upsets in history, with a 0-1 home defeat to lowly second league club, Atlético de Portugal. The Dragons were overconfident and arrogant, and only after being 0-1 down in the second half they gave some pace to the match, and nevertheless a penalty kick in the dying stages of added time, Quaresma missed it, and Porto went crashing out of the Cup in the first round against an amateur team. After the shocking defeat, Coach Jesualdo Ferreira sees the return of Lucho Gonzalez and Pepe after injury, as well as forward Tomo Sokota, finally back after an 8-month period of absence. The injured list remains the same, with Pedro Emanuel, Jorginho and Anderson all recovering from major injuries, which will prevent them from training for a couple of more weeks.

The visitors will have a very troubled league right up to the end. With halfway of the Season gone, it is now confirmed that Aves will be one of the teams fighting to avoid relegation. The team from Vila das Aves has lost too many points at home, and that is one of the major reasons to their low place in the league table. However, Porto is not the best of opponents to get back to winning ways. The Dragons are hurt on their pride after last week’s Cup exit, so fans and coach will be demanding a lot from the players this Sunday. Porto is quite superior to Aves, both as a team but also individually. I expect Porto to enter the match very strong and dominant with the hosts having problems to create goal chances, and I really can’t see Porto going blank again. Away win is my pick here.

Belenenses comes from a 4-2 extra time win in Paredes, over the local team. This Cup match was very tough for the Blues from the Restelo, which had lot of problems at the back to control their opponents’ attackers, and conceded two goals that could have been more. Hosting Sporting, coach Jorge Jesus will be without midfielders Djurdjevic and Sandro Gaúcho, and forwards Manoel and Romeu, all sidelined trough injury. Central defender Gaspar is also out suspended. The good news is the return to the squad of attackers Fernando and Fábio Januário, as well as right back Amaral back to his full fitness
Sporting had last weekend off, since their Cup match against União de Madeira was played in late December, thus giving another free week for Paulo Bento to prepare this difficult trip to the Restelo. Heading into Belem, Coach Paulo Bento will be without left-winger Rodrigo Tello, suspended for two matches, while defender Caneira and midfielder Paredes, doubtful, are likely to recover in time, although the midfielder should start the game from the bench, replaced by Pontus Farnerud. The good news is the return of central defender Anderson Polga after an injury.

A Lisbon Derby that despite not having the same spark as in previous years, is always a very nice match to watch. Belenenses seems more stabile as of late. The men from Restelo are coming from a 4-0-1 from their last five matches, although last week’s match was very hard against a 2nd Division club. Sporting is motivated, but they were showing some tiredness, and some of the youngsters looked a bit out of steam. It is still a question whether the Lions will reappear stronger or not. It is always a hard match to call especially after a month’s break, but I think we may see a good offensive match with both teams looking to score, and I reckon both of them may very well do it, as both team’s defenders aren’t nothing special.

Porto played one of their worse matches so far at Madeira. Even after being 0-1 down, it looked as though they did not want to put much pace into the match. Despite all this, it was with incredible simplicity that the Dragons turned the match around in only 10 minutes. In the end, a precious and lucky 2-1 win after being down on the score was a great result for the current league leaders. For this week, Coach Jesualdo Ferreira has midfielder Paulo Assunção and forward Postiga doubtful, while Anderson, Pedro Emanuel and Sokota are confirmed absentees until next year, and are still under Porto’s medical department orders.
Paços hosted Amadora, and despite dominating most of the match, they wasted some chances to score, and in an evenly fought match, that cost them a home draw. Still, they came from a 0-1 deficit, which makes the draw not a so much bad outcome against a rival team for their battle to avoid relegation. Going into Porto, Coach José Mota welcomes back defender Geraldo, midfielder Dani and forward Renato Queirós from suspension, however left back Fredy shouldn’t recover from his injury on time, unlike midfielder Paulo Sousa, that will face a late fitness test. Goalkeeper Pedro who has aggravated his injury and striker João Paulo continue away injured.

Porto is not very impressive in quality terms, but they demonstrate week after week an abysmal difference to all other teams in the league. They are very solid at the back, and their wingers are usually enough to decide the matches. Porto is highly confident, and are now on a seven match-winning streak. Paços continues to drop points at home, and is clearly feeling the down form of some important players in the team. They will travel to the Dragão looking for the draw, trying to postpone Porto’s goal as much as they can. I can only see a home win here, out of quality, morale and form.

Benfica v Vit.Setubal
My Pick: home win 10/10
Benfica played a below average match at Naval. Despite putting the hosts under constant pressure, the Lisbon Giants barely created major chances to score, and the ones they had they missed them. The absences of Nuno Gomes and Micolli were a major factor to the lack of goals, which ended up in another two points lost by Benfica in their fight for the title. Hosting Vitória Setubal, Coach Fernando Santos sees the return of forward Nuno Gomes, but once again will be without maestro Rui Costa and forward Micolli, both injured. In addition, midfielder Karyaka should also be absent from Saturday’s match, while right back Alcides has travelled to Brazil to solve personal issues and will also be unavailable for selection.
Setubal was once again horrible last round. They entered the match very nervous, and an early goal conceded had an even worse effect on them. The rest of the match was pure suffering for the men from the Sado, with only one real good chance to score during the whole match, but defending very poorly, which pushed them to a 0-3 home defeat to Sporting. The temporary and internal coach Carlos Cardoso has a couple of important absentees, with left back Adalto, central defender Hugo and keeper Milojevic confirmed out of this trip to Da Luz. Furthermore, left midfielder Bruno Ribeiro and winger Fonseca are also very likely to miss out on Saturday’s match.

Benfica is now eleven points behind Porto with a game in hand. The Reds have no other choice but to win this one, especially since they will play Belenenses next week, and have to get all six points to try to keep up the gap to Porto and Sporting. It seems as though Benfica have the perfect opponent to do so. Setubal is in a deep crisis, first with problems between some players and the board of directors, but now even the fans are against some of the players. On top of all this, the resigning of coach Toni does not help much either, since the team will now be under their third coach of the season. The hosts despite being without important forward Micolli, should be able to capitalise against one of the weakest teams in the league, and should also be able to beat the handicap.

Marítimo went to Coímbra to get an important win by 2-1 over Académica. Once again, the Islanders were very strong at the back and very solid in their midfield. An inspired Mbesuma completed the job, with a magnificent performance, which produced two goals. In the dying stages of the match, Marítimo conceded a goal, but never looked like giving away the three points. Hosting Belenenses, Coach Ulisses Morais has some great news, with the return to the team of star midfielder Marcinho after a two-match suspension. Also back from injury should be forward Kanu, however midfielder Fernando and striker Martin Prest continue absent with long-term injuries, and regular first team players Wênio and Briguel are out due to small injuries.
Belenenses played a very solid match against Braga. They entered the match very strong and focused which allowed them to get the opener with only a few minutes played. The second goal came naturally, and for the remainder of the match, the Blues from Restelo limited to control the match, performing a great performance at the back, and barely giving any chance for Braga to get back in the game. For this trip to the Madeira, Coach Jorge Jesus will be without forward Romeu, left winger Fernando and striker Manoel all still coming back from injury, while goalkeeper Marco Aurélio will not be available to play until January. Forward Dady spent the week under medical treatment but recovered in time, just like Fabio Januario. Influential inside midfielder Djurdjevic is also ruled out, despite recovering well from his injury.

This should be an interesting game. On one side, Marítimo is in great shape, they are coming from a 6-0-3 streak in which they only lost to Porto, Sporting and Benfica. On the opposite side, Belenenses comes from two consecutive wins and with their morale rising. The Blues from Restelo are now on mid-table and therefore less under pressure. The hosts should take control of the match and look for the goal, while Belenenses will try to take advantage of set pieces and long-range efforts by their midfielders. Since the Blues are not a very strong team on the counter attack, I think Marítimo will put them under pressure and have a good chance of winning the match with a single goal or two at most.

You can also check the preview for Sporting v Braga @t http://benfikistaportugal.blogspot.com/

Setubal is having many problems, not only they lack quality, but the atmosphere surrounding the team seems to be awful: now it’s the players criticizing coach Toni and his methods. Setubal comes from a defeat at Amadora, but worse than that was the terrible match they played there.During the week, a minor rebelionship was put to a stop by coach Toni, by suspending both team captains midfielder Sandro and defender Nandinho. Also Ademar, Joao Paulo and Adalto are out of this match trough injury, and central defender Hugo, despite being among the squad should also be unavailable to play as he is yet to be 100% with a small knock.
Probable Line Up (4-4-2) :
Nelson, Janicio, Verissimo, Auri, Bruno Ribeiro; Binho, Julien, Labarthe, La Paglia; Amuneke and Varela.

On the other hand, Porto is looking very solid, and comes from two very important wins, both by 3 goals, the team looks very solid and motivated. Coach Jesualdo Ferreira has already stated that Porto will improve even further. After last week’s injury, superstar midfielder Anderson remains sidelined, and midfielder Ibson despite already training with the team wasn’t called up for this match at Setubal has he is still regaining ideal fitness levels.
Probable Line Up (4-3-3) :
Helton; Bosingwa, Pepe, Bruno Alves, Fucile; Assunção, Meireles, Lucho; Quaresma, Lisandro, Postiga

I reckon Porto shouldn’t have many problems in overcoming Setubal, despite some tiredness that a few players may show. The hosts are undergoing serious internal problems, with the atmosphere in the lockeroom being very heavy. The players are now in clash with both the Coach and the club’s Chairman. Furthermore, Setubal is yet to produce effective football, their performances up to now have been awful, and there is clearly some quality missing from this squad. Porto is much stronger, more organized and more over , they are highly motivated coming from a win in Germany and another one against rivals Benfica.
If the pitch is in acceptable playing conditions, and if the wheater doesn’t ruin the match, I cannot see anything other than a win for Porto, although I don’t expect a big margin win under these conditions.

Paços came to Belem and was outplayed trough out the whole match. An early goal disallowed by the ref could have made things even worse for them, and still in the end of the game the 0-2 defeat was to blamed on the referee, according to Paços manager José Mota. The fact is that Paços were clearly inferior to Belenenses and the 0-2 defeat was a friendly result for them. Coach José Mota welcomes back important central defender Emerson, returning from a two-match ban, and therefore the only absentee is goalkeeper Pedro still recovering from a serious injury.
Boavista was humiliated at home, loosing their second match in a row, but this time by heavy numbers. The men from Bessa appeared nervous in the game, and took two early goals that decided the match. On top of that, a missed penalty by Linz with the score on 0-2 was the decisive point of the match, because after that, only Nacional played football, and Boavista ended up loosing 0-4 in what is to be considered a short score given what happened on the pitch. On his return to Boavista as a coach, replacing Petrovic (fired), Jaime Pacheco has a full squad to choose from, with the exception of Hélder Rosário, serving his second match of suspension, and left back Mario Silva, suspended for one match, after being sent off against Nacional.

Paços is looking a bit sloppy, loosing steam match after match. The team is very dependant on a few players, and the downtrend is very much due to that. Their last positive result is now 3 rounds back, which shows that Paços Ferreira is either a bluff, or they are showing their real value now. On the other side, Boavista with a new coach is likely to change their style quite a lot, since Jaime Pacheco’s teams are well known by their fighting spirit other than class or technique. I think we will see a hard fought match, and I cannot see Boavista’s superior quality enforced with huge determination being defeated by Paços.

Est.Amadora v Sporting
My Pick: away win 7/10
Estrela were really close to finally getting a win, but in the late stages of the match gave away a 1-0 lead at Madeira, to end up loosing 1-2, in a cruel, but deserved way. Estrela got their goal in a rare occasion they had to score, and spent the rest of the match defending. Under fire coach, Daúto Faquirá sees the return of a couple of important players like defender José Fonte and midfielder Luis Loureiro. Midfielder Sérgio Marquês and defender Carreira are not confirmed yet but are likely to available, and therefore only midfielders Pedro Simões and Anselmo are absent injured, since there are no suspended players.
Sporting could have destroyed Leiria, but the huge number of missed goal chances gave them a thin win of 2-0. Still, Sporting was very solid, and played a good enough match to easily dispose off a poor Leiria team. For the first time this season, Paulo Bento has a full squad to choose from, since midfielder Carlos Martins is finally back after a muscle injury.

Estrela was supose to return home, to play in the Reboleira, but a late setback meant the pitch wasn’t available in time for Sunday’s match, and that once again costs them home advantage, since the match will b played in neutral ground, at the Coímbra da Mota, in Estoril. Furthermore, Sporting is looking very solid, not only at the back, but also in terms of their defensive midfield. If Sporting plays their regular football, I think they have a great chance to win, and keep putting the pressure to Porto. The hosts are lying last in the table, low on morale, and worse than that, with little quality in their football. I reckon Daúto Faquirá is a couple of weeks away from being fired.

Beira Mar had an awkward match at Naval. A solid defensive performance from Inácio’s men was rewarded with an 86th minute goal that would have given them a win, but two very strange goals on added time eventually turned the match around, and the Aveiro team lost 1-2. This Friday’s visit of Braga is marked by the recovery of left back Tininho and central midfielder Diakaté from minor injuries, and central defender Alcaráz after serving a suspension. Todor, Roma and Ricardo are away from the squad with long-term injuries.

Braga played their best match of the season so far with a great win over FC Porto. On tactical terms, Braga was better than Porto, taking full advantage of the counter attack, and being very consistent at the back. Not only Braga took Porto’s invincibility, but also they did it in a convincing manner. Travelling to Aveiro, Coach Carlos Carvalhal has only Vandinho and Castanheira injured, however left back Paíto seems to be available for this Friday while defensive midfielder Frechaut and organizer João Pinto have fully recovered their fitness levels. Bruno Gama remains questionable, although he should recover in time for this Friday’s match.

It should be an interesting match, with both teams looking for the win. The hosts are undefeated at home, but are showing unbelievable flaws at the back for a Super league team: with 9 goals conceded in only 5 matches, Beira Mar has the worst defensive record of the league. On other hand, Braga’s only convincing match of the season thus far was precisely against Porto, but away from home Braga is very solid at the back, playing really closed, and trying to take advantage of set pieces and individual skill decide these matches. All in all, I think the visitors have more chances to get the win here, and dnb bet on them is advisable, but low stakes, since a UEFA CUP match against AZ Alkmaar is right around the corner.