Braga travel to Portimonense on Thursday night as they look to record a third consecutive league win after the Archbishops moved up to third in the Primeira Liga table on Monday.

Meanwhile, the visitors will be looking to bounce back from a disappointing loss to Boavista in their last match, a result which lifted their relegation rivals off the foot of the table.

Match preview

Carlos Carvalhal, now in charge of Sporting Braga, pictured in June 2020 © Reuters

Carlos Carvalhal's side recorded a dominant victory last time out, beating eighth-placed Moreirense 4-0 at home, thanks to goals from Fransergio, Andre Castro, Raul Michel Melo da Silva and Andre Horta.

This followed a 1-0 win at home to strugglers Gil Vicente, with Iuri Medeiros netting the only goal of the game after a dominant performance by Os Arcebispos.

These two results have seen Braga move up to third place, leapfrogging Benfica due to the Primeira Liga rule that sides are first sorted by points, and then sorted by head-to-head points, with both sides sitting on 33 points and Braga having a 3-2 away win over As Aguias earlier this season.

This puts Carvalhal's side in a good position to achieve Europa League qualification and a top-four position for the fourth consecutive season as they currently sit four points above fifth-placed Vitoria.

This is in no small part down to their 11 league wins picked up from 16 games this season, only topped by league leaders Sporting Lisbon with 13 wins and Porto with 12.

However, the Archbishops have suffered five league losses this campaign, more than any other side in the Primeira Liga's top six, and they are yet to draw in league action, suggesting that finding a way to convert narrow losses into draws could be the difference at the end of the season for Braga.

Portimonense's Beto celebrates scoring their first goal in December 2020 © Reuters

They come up against a Portimonense side who have been dragged right back down into the battle to survive against relegation from the top flight after a 2-1 loss at home to Boavista, who were bottom of the Primeira Liga at the time.

Ewerton gave Portimonense the lead in the first half, but goals from Alberth Elis and Paulinho secured Boavista's second league win of the season and reduced the gap between the two sides to just one point.

Meanwhile, the gap between Paulo Sergio's team and the automatic relegation zone now stands at just two points, only sitting outside of the bottom two thanks to recent crucial wins against Belenenses and Farense, who now sit at the foot of the table.

This season's struggles have mostly been down to Portimonense's poor attacking record, having scored just 13 goals from their 16 league games so far, with only three sides in the Portuguese top flight scoring fewer than this.

As a result, they sit on just 15 points thus far, having won four and drawn three of their 16 league games, with no team losing more than their nine at this stage.

This does present a real concern for Sergio as his team battle to avoid relegation back down to the Segunda Liga in their fourth consecutive season in the top flight, and they face one of their toughest challenges yet in this game.

Braga Primeira Liga form: WLWLWW
Braga form (all competitions): LWLWWW

Portimonense Primeira Liga form: LWLWDL

Team News

Braga's Francisco Moura celebrates scoring their second goal with teammates in November 2020 © Reuters

Braga will be without winger Medeiros, who came off with an injury in the Taca de Portugal win over Santa Clara and missed the recent win over Moreirense.

The Nuremberg loanee has been a key player for Os Arcebispos this season, scoring five goals and assisting two in 15 Primeira Liga appearances.

Forward Rui Fonte and young left-back Francisco Moura both remain out for Carlos Carvalhal's side with long-term cruciate ligament injuries.

Braga also recently lost forward Paulinho to Sporting Lisbon in a deadline day deal, while Andraz Sporar went the other way, joining the third-placed team on loan from the league leaders to bolster their attacking ranks.

Left-back Cristian Borja also arrived at Braga on loan from Sporting on deadline day, and both loanees are expected to make their debuts in this encounter.

Sporar will be joined in attack by fellow January signing Lucas Piazon, who joined the club permanently from Chelsea after a loan spell in Portugal with Rio Ave.

Portimonense goalkeeper Samuel has missed his side's last three matches after a positive COVID-19 test earlier in January, however he could return to the squad for this tie and should regain his spot in goal in place of Ricardo Ferreira who has stepped in recently.

Paulo Sergio will also be without Pedro Sa and Lucas Fernandes; neither of the midfielders have featured since the turn of the year and both remain out with injuries.

Braga possible starting lineup:
Matheus; Tormena, Carmo, Silva; Esgaio, Castro, Fransergio, Borja; Piazon, Ruiz, Sporar

Portimonense possible starting lineup:
Samuel; Moufi, Possignolo, Antonio, Anzai; Clemente, Rocha, Ewerton; Boa Morte, Moreira, Fabricio

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We say: Braga 2-0 Portimonense

We can see Braga securing a fairly comfortable win in this game as they look to keep pace with the Primeira Liga's top two. The two arrivals from Sporting should inject some energy into a side with some real momentum coming into a game against a struggling Portimonense team who lack attacking threat.

Top betting tip

Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting a home win in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.

Data Analysis

Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Braga win with a probability of 67.78%. A draw had a probability of 20% and a win for Portimonense had a probability of 12.23%.

The most likely scoreline for a Braga win was 2-0 with a probability of 13.3%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (13.26%) and 2-1 (9.45%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (9.43%), while for a Portimonense win it was 0-1 (4.7%). The actual scoreline of 2-1 was predicted with a 9.5% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Braga would win this match.