Fresh off the back of a heavy defeat against AZ Alkmaar in the Europa Conference League qualifiers, Gil Vicente play host to Famalicao at the Estadio Cidade de Barcelos on Monday.

The Vila Nova, on the other hand, will be looking to avoid a third consecutive league defeat for the first time since last December after losing their opening two games of the new campaign.

Match preview

Gil Vicente's hopes of securing a place in the Europa Conference League group stages suffered a huge blow as they fell to a 4-0 thrashing against AZ Alkmaar in the first leg of their playoff-round clash on Thursday.

In a one-sided affair at the AFAS Stadion, Dani De Wit, Mayckel Lahdo, Vangelis Pavlidis and Mees de Wit all found the target to hand the Eredivisie outfit a resounding first-leg victory.

Gil Vicente now turn their attention to the Primeira Liga where they failed to make it two wins from two in their most recent outing as they fell to a 1-0 loss against Arouca last Monday.

Ivo Vieira's men, who secured an impressive fifth-placed finish in the league last season, head into Monday unbeaten in each of their last six home games across all competitions, claiming four wins and two wins since April's 2-1 loss against Moreirense.

Meanwhile, Famalicao failed to get their campaign up and running last time out as they fell to a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Braga when the sides met at Estadio Municipal de Famalicao.

After going ahead courtesy of Nuno Sequeira's 13th-minute strike, new signing Simon Banza continued his red-hot form in front of goal as he scored a brace to hand Os Arcebispos their first win of the season.

This followed a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Estoril Praia in their 2022-23 Primeira Liga curtain-raiser on August 6, with Francisco Geraldes and Arthur Gomes finding the target for the Canarinhos.

Famalicao's next task sees them take on a Gil Vicente side against whom they are unbeaten in 10 of the last 12 meetings between the sides since 2015, claiming seven wins and three draws in that time.

However, while Rui Silva's side will fancy their chances against the Gilistas once again, they have managed just two wins away from home in 2022, picking up two draws and suffering five defeats in their nine games since the turn of the year.

Team News

Gil Vicente will take to the pitch without the services of newly-signed Brazilian forward Lucas Barros, who is yet to make his debut after suffering an injury back in May.

He is joined on the Gilistas injury table by former Zenit St. Petersburg goalkeeper Stanislav Kritsyuk, who has been out of action since last November through a knee injury.

Twenty-seven-year-old Brazilian Murilo de Souza is another long-term absentee for the hosts as he continues his journey to full fitness after picking up an ACL injury in January's game against Boavista.

As far as Famalicao are concerned, Spanish midfielder Ivan Jaime is out of contention for this weekend's clash due to a ruptured cruciate ligament.

The Vila Nova are one of just three sides yet to find the back of the net this season and Silva could switch things up at the attacking end of the pitch this weekend.

One likely change could be 19-year-old Junior Kadile ceding his place in the front three to the more experienced Rui Fonte, who recently joined from league rivals Estoril Praia.

Gil Vicente possible starting lineup:
Andrew; Veiga, Ferrugem, Fernandes, Gomes; Tiba, Fujimoto; Boselli, Carvalho, Medina; Navarro

Famalicao possible starting lineup:
Junior; Fuente, Batubinsika, Penetra, Lima; Youssouf, Assuncao, Simoes; Fonte, Millan, Tavares

We say: Gil Vicente 1-1 Famalicao

Gil Vincente and Famalicao have struggled to impose themselves early on and will head into the weekend in need of a morale-boosting result. While we expect a thrilling contest with both sides throwing the kitchen sink for all three points, we predict that they will cancel out each other's efforts and settle for a share of the spoils.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

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