Four places separate Famalicao and Santa Clara in the Primeira Liga table heading into Monday's gameweek 16 match at Estadio Municipal de Famalicao.
Both sides enter the final match of 2024 in underwhelming form, with Fama winless in five matches and their visitors beaten in consecutive games for the first time since regaining promotion.
Match preview
Having held Porto (1-1) and Sporting Braga (3-3) to draws, ninth-placed Famalicao were favourites to dispatch second-bottom Farense before Christmas, only to come unstuck on home soil, losing 2-1 to the relegation-threatened club.
Keen to return to winning ways on Monday after new boss Nuno Oliveira suffered defeat in his home bow, Vila Nova aim to snap a winless streak stretching back to the start of November, when they beat promoted AVS 3-2.
That victory was only a respite for Fama, who picked up one point from the next available nine, leading to Armando Evangelista's dismissal.
Winless since Oliveira's appointment, Famalicenses are second-bottom of the form table (jointly with Boavista) with three points from their previous five Liga matches, conceding eight times during that run, outdone only by Moreirense (10) and Braga (nine).
Despite the form table making Santa Clara favourites, Fama's encouraging head-to-head record with Monday's opponents offers optimism to fans, who have seen their side claim five wins in their last seven meetings with the Ponta Delgada outfit, though the sole defeat came last month in the Taca de Portugal.
Bruno Almeida was Santa Clara's hero in the November 24 cup tie, scoring with 11 minutes of normal time remaining to snap Os Acorianos' six-match winless streak (five defeats) against Fama with a 1-0 triumph.
That cup success was the second of four 1-0 wins for Vasco Matos's side, who also clinched victories over Sporting Lisbon and Rio Ave, but have since fired blanks in consecutive Liga losses to Arouca (1-0) and Braga (2-0).
The latest reverse against Braga saw the promoted club leapfrogged in the standings by the victors, although the Azoreans seek a positive ending to 2024 to avoid losing three top-flight fixtures in a row for the first time since their ill-fated campaign that ended in relegation.
Santa Clara were beaten nine times on the trot that year from February to April 2023, a run that appears implausible for the high-flying fifth-placed side on their return to the big time.
Nevertheless, a season that began impressively is in danger of losing momentum, highlighting the away side's desire to finish 2024 strongly at Fama.
Team News
Gil Dias received his fifth booking this term in the loss to Farense, thus ruling out the right-winger against Santa Clara; Sorriso could replace the wide attacker on Monday.
Despite missing Dias's joint-high goal contributions (five), Famalicao have several players capable of taking responsibility: Oscar Aranda (five), Sorriso, Gustavo Sa and Mario Gonzalez (four each), who could be utilised in varying capacities on Monday.
Yassir Zabiri and Ivan Zlobin are ruled out for the hosts, with the Moroccan last featuring in October and Zlobin missing the Farense match with reported kidney problems.
Lucas Soares was sent off after 22 minutes against Braga, and the Santa Clara wing-back is ruled out of the away side's final fixture of 2024, with Diogo Calila the expected replacement.
Having sustained no apparent injuries in the Braga loss, Pedro Pacheco (knee) and Ricardinho (muscle) remain Os Acorianos' absentees in gameweek 16.
Vinicius Lopes has notched four match-winning strikes this term, a joint-high with Benfica's Vangelis Pavlidis, Sporting's Viktor Gyokeres and Porto's Samu Aghehowa, and the Brazilian aims to add to his six goals at Fama.
Famalicao possible starting lineup:
Carevic; Calegari, Riccieli, Mihaj, Soares; Topic, Youssouf; Sorriso, Sa, Rochinha; Aranda
Santa Clara possible starting lineup:
Batista; Lima, Rocha, Ramos; Calila, Klismahn, Firmino, Pereira; Serginho, Lopes, Silva
We say: Famalicao 0-0 Santa Clara
Santa Clara, the only Primeira Liga side yet to draw this term, travel to Famalicao, who enter round 16 with the league's joint-highest number of stalemates - seven.
With Fama playing out three draws in their previous five home fixtures (losing two) and the away side falling to four away losses in their preceding five matches, neither side looks primed to edge Monday's encounter.
Thus, both sides could cancel each other out, with the spoils shared in the Braga district.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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