Estoril Praia are seven points and five places behind Famalicao in the Primeira Liga table heading into Sunday's gameweek 12 encounter at Estadio Antonio Coimbra da Mota.
The hosts, 12th in the standings, have secured one victory in their previous five and hope to record success after a two-match wait when they welcome a side keen to extend their undefeated streak to three.
Match preview
Wins have been rare for Estoril this term, with the Canaries claiming two in the opening 11 rounds entering this weekend.
Underscoring the challenges facing Ian Cathro's men is their inability to score consistently, as evidenced by eight goals before Sunday's meeting with Famalicao.
Four of those strikes came in October's 4-1 victory over Arouca, accounting for 50% of the Lisbon club's eight strikes in 2024-25.
Canarinhos have fired blanks in seven of their 11 matches heading into gameweek 12's fixture, finding the net in wins over Nacional (1-0) and Arouca (4-1), the draw at Rio Ave (2-2) and opening round thrashing by promoted Santa Clara (1-4).
Having fired blanks in back-to-back fixtures — they lost against Porto (0-4) and played out a goalless game against AVS on November 9 — the home side could go three consecutive Liga matches without scoring for the second time this term, following a similar run in August when they lost to Vitoria Guimaraes (0-1) and shared the spoils in goalless meetings with Gil Vicente and Boavista.
It will be interesting to see if Fama exploit Estoril's impotence in the attacking third, with the away side undefeated in two Liga matches heading into Sunday.
Although Armando Evangelista's men lost a Taca de Portugal match to Santa Clara last weekend, Vila Nova have notched four top-flight points from an available six, beating AVS 3-2 and drawing with Arouca.
They rank seventh in the competition, four points shy of the fourth-placed Santa Clara, and cannot fall lower than eighth this weekend, given their four-point buffer over Casa Pia in ninth.
Despite that guarantee, the seventh-placed Fama aim to extend their undefeated road sequence to four following five points from their previous three matches at Moreirense (0-0), Rio Ave (1-1) and AVS (3-2).
Team News
With Helder Costa healthy again, Xeka and Eliaquim Mangala are Estoril's only expected injury absentees entering this weekend.
Only Alejandro Marques (three goals) and Wagner Pina (two) have netted more than once for the hosts, and both aim to add to their goals against Fama.
Brazilian forward Sorriso is expected to be unavailable for Evangelista in the upcoming visit to Estoril.
With Vila Nova shorn of Sorriso's three strikes, the away side will look to Gil Dias (three goals) and Zaydou Youssouf (two) to turn up trumps this weekend.
Estoril Praia possible starting lineup:
Robles; Pina, Boma, Bacher, Costa; Orellana, Zanocelo, Holsgrove; Garcia, Marques, Carvalho
Famalicao possible starting lineup:
Zlobin; Calegari, Riccieli, Mihaj, Soares; Topic, Youssouf; Rochinha, Sa, Dias; Aranda
We say: Estoril Praia 0-0 Famalicao
While one goal either side could settle Sunday's match, Estoril and Famalicao's inclination to embrace caution could see both sides accept a point at Estadio Antonio Coimbra da Mota.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
body check tags ::
Previews by email
