Fresh off the back of a shock loss against Arouca, Porto go head to head with Estrela Amadora at the Estadio do Dragao in round 22 of the Primeira Liga on Saturday.
The Tricolores moved out of the relegation zone with a resounding home victory over Portimonense last time out and will be looking to pick up consecutive league wins for the first time since October.
Match preview
Porto suffered a huge blow in their quest for Champions League qualification as they fell to a 3-2 defeat against Arouca when the sides met at the Estadio Municipal de Arouca on Monday.
Rafa Mujica and Cristo Gonzalez scored either side of Evanilson's ninth-minute equaliser to hand the Arouquenses a first-half lead, and after Jason doubled the Arouquenses' advantage with a 60th-minute strike, Francisco Conceicao pulled one back for the Dragoes with four minutes left for play.
Prior to that, Porto were denied a fifth consecutive victory across all competitions on February 3 when they were held to a disappointing goalless draw by 10-man Rio Ave at the Estadio do Dragao.
Â
With Monday's defeat, Sergio Conceicao's men have now failed to win back-to-back Primeira Liga matches for the first time since February 2021, when they played out consecutive stalemates against Belenenses, Braga and Boavista respectively.
This slump in form has seen Porto's quest for securing Champions League football come under threat as they now sit third in the Primeira Liga table, seven points behind second-placed Benfica in the Champions League playoff spot.
With the first leg of their Champions League round-of-16 clash against Arsenal on the horizon, the 30-time Portuguese champions will look to pick up a morale-boosting result and set the tone for that encounter.
Estrela Amadora, on the other hand, picked up three huge points in their battle for survival as they secured a 3-0 victory over Portimonense at the Estadio Jose Gomes last Friday.
Despite seeing just 36% of the ball possession and being on the back foot for most of the game, a 13th-minute strike from Leo Jaba and own goals from Carlinhos and Kosuke Nakamura saw the hosts come away with a comfortable win.
This was a much-needed respite for Sergio Vieira's men, who were on a three-game winless run and had failed to win their previous seven outings, picking up just three points from a possible 21.
Estrela have now won five of their 21 Primeira Liga matches while losing 10 and claiming six draws to collect 21 points and sit 14th in the league table, just one point above the relegation playoff spot and level on points with Estoril Praia, Rio Ave and Portimonense.
Next up for the Tricolores is the stern challenge of going up against a Porto side who have won each of the previous three league meetings between the sides, scoring eight goals and keeping two clean sheets since December 2008.
While Estrela will be looking to end this poor run and secure successive league wins for the first time since October, their results on the road have been nothing to write home about as they have failed to win their last seven away matches, losing four and claiming three draws since the start of November.
Team News
Porto will have to cope without the services of experienced defender Fabio Cardoso, who is currently suspended after picking up a late red card against Arouca last time out.
Argentine midfielder Alan Varela was forced off injured shortly before the half-time break against the Arouquenses and the 22-year-old is a major doubt for Conceicao's men.
Ivan Marcano has been sidelined since sustaining an ACL injury in September's reverse fixture against Estrela and the Spanish defender will also play no part in Saturday's game.
As for Estrela, Vieira will be unable to call upon the services of veteran defender Miguel Lopes, who has been out of action since coming off injured in the cup game against Moreirense back in November.
Following an impressive team display against Portimonense, we expect the Tricolores to field a similar starting XI, with Kialonda Gaspar, Pedro Mendes and Ruben Lima forming the back three once again.
At the attacking end of the pitch, we expect an unchanged front three of Regis N'Do, Rodrigo Pinho and Brazilian striker Jaba, who has seven goal involvements in the league this season.
Porto possible starting lineup:
Costa; Mario, Pepe, Otavio, Wendell; Eustaquio, Gonzalez; Conceicao, Pepe, Galeno; Evanilson
Estrela Amadora possible starting lineup:
Brigido; Gaspar, Mendes, Lima; Santos, Cordeiro, Souza, Nilton; N'Do, Pinho, Jaba
We say: Porto 3-0 Estrela Amadora
Porto have suffered a drop-off in form of late and will head into the weekend looking to find their feet. The Dragoes boast a significantly superior and more experienced squad and we fancy them to come away with a comfortable victory in front of their home supporters.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
body check tags ::
Previews by email
