Bottom-of-the-table Chaves host a Gil Vicente side currently sat at the bottom of the top half in the Primeira Liga on Saturday.

Chaves appear to be turning a corner under new management after a truly shocking start to the season.

Match preview

After losing all of their first five league games of the season, Chaves acted swiftly and sacked manager Jose Gomes.

Moreno was brought in and has instantly turned their fortunes around, picking up four points from his opening two games in charge.

The new boss has the form of talisman Hector Hernandez to thank for that, as his influence has been crucial.

The Spaniard is already over halfway to matching last season's goalscoring tally in the league after scoring four in his opening seven games.

Sorting out Chaves' home form will be top of the agenda for Moreno though, as they are still winless here despite winning four of their final six on home soil last season.

Moreno did guide them to their first point at home this season in his first game in charge though, fighting back from 2-0 down with five minutes to play to snatch a draw against Estrela.

Gil Vicente enter the fixture propping up the top half in ninth - five points off Europe and five points clear of trouble.

Their polarising recent results illustrates why they find themselves marooned dead centre in mid-table, as they have lost nine of their last 14 games but won the other five.

Their away form on paper looks a huge concern as well, having picked up zero points from their first three this season.

However, those three defeats have all contained fragments of misfortune, as they lost each of them by just one-goal margins.

Vitor Campelos's side led at Vitoria Guimaraes and gave Porto a scare but they went on to lose both matches late on.

Home form meanwhile, has been excellent as only league leaders Sporting Lisbon have amassed more points so far.

Three eye-catching victories over Portimonense, Estoril and Casa Pia saw Gil Vicente score 12 goals, and they added another two in a narrow 3-2 loss against Benfica.

Their overall tally of 16 is higher than both Sporting and Porto at this stage, and in a league which so often struggles to produce free-scoring sides outside the top four, that could be a big asset to Campelos.

Gil Vicente have Sporting and Braga in their next five, but then have a kind run of fixtures heading towards the new year, so may have ambitions of potentially challenging for the final European place.

Team News

Moreno made four changes to the side which started his first game in charge, and after winning 2-0 at Arouca, he could stick with the same side.

Kelechi Nwakali, Jo and Bruno Rodrigues in particular should have done enough to retain their spot in the starting XI for this one.

Ruben Lameiras remains the only Chaves player currently out injured, as a knee problem has now seen him miss the last three months.

Gil Vicente have been unchanged in their last three matches now, and with no new injury concerns, Campelos could stick with the same lineup again.

Laurindo Aurelio is most assured of a place in the starting XI, as the Angolan has scored in all three of those games.

On the injury front, goalkeeper Stanislav Kritsyuk and Iranian Ali Alipour remain on the sidelines for the visitors.

Chaves possible starting lineup:
Hugo Souza; Bruno Rodrigues, Steven Vitoria, Ygor Nogueira, Bruno Langa; Joao Correia, Nwakali, Ricardo Guimaraes, Sanca, Jo; Hernandez

Gil Vicente possible starting lineup:
Andrew; Ze Carlos, Gabriel Pereira, Fernandes, Buta; Neto, Pedro Tiba, Dominguez; Murilo, Aurelio, Felix Correia

We say: Chaves 3-2 Gil Vicente

In the first-ever top-flight meetings between the sides last season, Chaves won 3-1 here, and after finding a new lease of life under Moreno, they could well repeat the feat.

Gil Vicente have been free-scoring, but despite scoring 16 goals in their first seven games, they have still lost four times, including in all three away games so far.


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