Gremio have an opportunity to climb out of the relegation zone in the Campeonato Brasileiro Serie A on Wednesday when they host Cuiaba at Arena do Gremio.
The side from Porto Alegre have dropped their last two league fixtures, while Dourado are scoreless in back-to-back games as they sit in 11th place after 23 matches.
Match preview
Immortal Tricolor are going through another slump which has dropped them back into the danger zone of Serie A.
On Sunday, Luiz Felipe Scolari saw his side suffer a couple of mental errors in the second half, conceding twice to Sport Recife and losing 2-1.
After conceding four goals in a defeat to Athletico Paranaense to end the month of September, allowing another two goals to a side in Receife, who had been held scoreless in their eight previous fixtures, will not instil any more confidence into this team.
The silver lining for Gremio right now is that they do have a game in hand on Bahia and Santos, who are only one and two points above them respectively, so they do not need to rely on any other team to get themselves out of their current predicament.
It was not long ago when they faced Cuiaba and were able to limit their scoring opportunities, allowing only two shots on target throughout their game against them in August as a goal in the 25th minute from the penalty spot was all that they would need to earn the victory.
They are the second lowest-scoring team in the league, although they have only conceded once in their last three league matches played in Porto Alegre.
Despite a hot start to September for Jorginho and his Cuiaba side, things have cooled off in recent weeks, as they seek their first victory in October.
In their previous two games, they have failed to score or generate a lot of quality chances, with only five shots on target combined in both of those encounters.
That setback comes after they had begun their September campaign with a three-game unbeaten streak, scoring multiple goals each time.
With that run, they were able to put themselves in a much more favourable position as they currently sit in the middle of the pack in 11th but are only three points behind Internacional, who are seventh.
In two of their previous three fixtures, they found themselves having to chase the game early on, conceding to America Mineiro after only 13 minutes on Saturday, and going two down to Fluminense within the opening 20 minutes of play.
When playing on the road, they do not seem to have as much of the ball, twice finishing with less than 40% possession in their last three games while being held scoreless in two of those three contests.
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Team News
Miguel Borja had the only goal for Gremio in their first meeting with Cuiaba from the penalty spot, as he leads the team with four so far this year, though he has gone goalless in his last two matches.
Winger Douglas Costa, who is on loan from Juventus had the only goal for his side over the weekend on a nice set up from Vanderson, who leads them in assists with two.
Costa was the only change to their starting 11 on Saturday from their last match as he replaced Lucas Silva, who started in their three previous league games.
Cuiaba goalkeeper Walter has been spectacular on the road of late with a clean sheet in four of his last five matches away from home, saving 22 of the 23 shots that he faced over that time.
Marllon got the start in central defence on Saturday, replacing Alan Empereur, Osman was preferred over Yesus Cabrera and Jenison got the start at striker instead of their leading goalscorer Elton.
Jonathan Cafu has helped provide some secondary scoring to this side, with three goals so far this year since joining Cuiaba on loan from Corinthians.
Gremio possible starting lineup:
Chapeco; Vanderson, Ruan, Rodrigues, Kannemann; Santos, Villasanti; Costa, Silva, Ferreira; Borja
Cuiaba possible starting lineup:
Walter; Lucas, Marllon, Paulao, Uendel; Pepe, Auremir, Cafu, Clayson, Gava; Elton
We say: Gremio 1-1 Cuiaba
These two teams are struggling at the moment, while neither side are particularly potent in attack, with Cuiaba scoring 23 goals so far and Gremio with 18.
More often than not, these teams do not do enough to win or lose a game, so a draw could be the most likely outcome to this match.
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