Two teams fighting at opposite ends of the Primeira Liga table will do battle on Saturday, as Sporting Lisbon welcome Maritimo to the Estadio Jose Alvalade.

With just three games of the league campaign left to play, the hosts find themselves fourth and four points behind third-placed Braga, while their visitors currently occupy the relegation playoff place and are five points adrift of automatic safety.

Match preview

After finishing first and second in the Primeira Liga in the previous two seasons, Sporting Lisbon have experienced a tougher campaign this time around, having not spent any time in the top three of Portugal's top flight.

Ruben Amorim's side have certainly ramped up their pursuit of third spot in recent months, though, and after sitting on 38 points from their opening 20 matches, the Leoes have now gone unbeaten in their last 11 outings, picking up an eye-catching tally of 29 points along the way.

Following five straight victories, Amorim's men briefly stalled with draws against Gil Vicente and Arouca either side of a narrow victory win over Casa Pia, but they have since bounced back in impressive fashion, firstly returning to winning ways with a 2-0 triumph away at Vitoria de Guimaraes thanks to goals from Pedro Goncalves and Arthur.

Os Leoes then made it back-to-back triumphs by beating Famalicao 2-1 on home turf, with Hidemasa Morita and Ricardo Esgaio on the scoresheet, before they most recently travelled to take on strugglers Pacos de Ferreira on Sunday and dished out a 4-0 thrashing as a Jose Marafona own goal quickly put them in the lead before Nuno Santos, Francisco Trincao and Youssef Chermiti all found the net.

With Braga, who have maintained third spot with a relentless run of their own, having suffered a rare defeat at the weekend, the gap between the two sides has been reduced to four points, meaning Sporting Lisbon do still stand a chance of moving into the top three to finish the campaign if they are able to continue their winning run on Saturday.

They meet a Maritimo side who appear to be confined to the bottom three with three matches to go, having only managed 23 points from their 31 league outings thus far, with only six of those ending in victories.

The most recent of those triumphs came in mid-April, when they beat fellow strugglers Pacos de Ferreira 3-1 to move further clear of the bottom two courtesy of goals from Andre Vidigal, Val Soares and Vitor Costa, but they have been unable to further strengthen their survival hopes since, managing just one more point from their last three games.

Os Verde-Rubros firstly fell to a 3-2 defeat away at Famalicao, having been denied a share of the spoils deep into injury time following Pablo's winner, after initially being 2-0 up through Brayan Riascos and Vidigal, before they hosted Vitoria de Guimaraes and lost 2-1 with Geny Catamo's goal coming too late to kickstart a turnaround.

With their lead over the automatic relegation zone then reduced to just two points following a victory for Pacos de Ferreira, Jose Gomes's side most recently hosted Rio Ave on Sunday, and after going two goals down, it was their turn to come from behind as goals from Felix Correia and Vidigal saw them come away with a valuable point from a 2-2 draw.

Such a result did slightly increase their cushion with three games to go, and with Estoril Praia now five points clear, Os Verde-Rubros will know they are unlikely to jump out of the bottom three altogether and will instead focus on ensuring they finish in the relegation playoff place as opposed to the bottom two.

Team News

Sporting Lisbon will remain without Jovane Cabral and Jeremiah St Juste due to injuries, while midfielder Daniel Braganca is nearing a return to contention after a long layoff of his own but will not be deemed fit enough to feature from the start on Saturday.

In the absence of St Juste, Ousmane Diomande should again join Sebastian Coates and Goncalo Inacio in a back three, while Hidemasa Morita and Goncalo Inacio will continue their partnership in the engine room.

Striker Paulinho has recently dropped out of the starting XI in favour of a new-look front line featuring Marcus Edwards, Francisco Trincao and Pedro Goncalves, and that should remain unchanged with the latter having contributed 15 goals and 10 assists in 30 Primeira Liga appearances so far this term.

Maritimo could come into Saturday's trip with an unchanged starting XI from their draw with Rio Ave, with Andre Vidigal again bound to lead the line, having taken his tally to eight league goals for the season with five in his last six appearances.

He will likely be supported by the trio of Felix Correia, Xadas and Geny Catamo, while Joao Afonso and Val Soares will partner up at the base of the midfield.

Further back, Zainadine Junior will be joined in the middle of a back four by Rene Santos, with Paulinho and Vitor Costa set to complete the defensive unit.

Sporting Lisbon possible starting lineup:
Adan; Diomande, Coates, Inacio; Bellerin, Ugarte, Morita, Santos; Edwards, Trincao, Goncalves

Maritimo possible starting lineup:
Carne; Paulinho, Junior, Santos, Costa; Afonso, Soares; Correia, Xadas, Catamo; Vidigal

We say: Sporting Lisbon 3-0 Maritimo

Sporting Lisbon are in a fine run of form in their pursuit of third spot, while the visitors are lacking any momentum at the bottom end of the division, and we envisage a relatively dominant home victory as a result.


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