The action in the Portuguese Primeira Liga gets back underway this weekend after the international break, and there is a huge fixture in store for fans to look forward to. Two of the biggest teams in Portugal meet this weekend for the first time this season, and both will be looking to get the points that they need to close the gap between themselves and Benfica.
Sporting Lisbon vs FC Porto Preview
Sporting Lisbon will come into this match sitting in fourth in the league standings, but they have enjoyed an impressive start to the new season. They have won both of their league games so far this season, and are yet to concede a goal. The first of those wins came away from home Pacos Ferreira, with Jovane Cabral and Sebastian Coates scoring the goals. Sporting dominated that fixture, and never looked like taking anything other than a win from the game.
That victory was followed up with another away success in the league as they beat Portimonense 2-0. All the damage was done by Sporting in the opening ten minutes in that game, with Nuno Mendes scoring after four minutes, before Nuno Santos doubled the lead six minutes later. Sporting’s early season hasn’t been without disappointment however, as they were dumped out of the Europa League in the playoff round by LASK, as they were beaten 4-1 at home. Their aim for the season will be to get back into that competition with a strong league finish.
FC Porto are just one place ahead of Sporting Lisbon at this early stage of the season, but they still find themselves three points behind the current league leaders. However, BetXChange makes them the 1.17 favourites to claim the win this weekend against Sporting Lisbon. Porto have won two of their three games so far this season, but they will be without Alex Telles, who the club have recently sold to Manchester United.
Porto started the season with two wins from two, with wins against Braga and Boavista. The latter of those was a commanding 5-0 success, with the goals being scored by Jesus Corona, Sergio Oliveira and Luis Diaz. Moussa Marega also scored a brace in that win. However, Porto will come into this game having been beaten in their most recent fixture. In that game, they were beaten 3-2 by Maritimo. Pepe and Otavio scored the goals in the defeat for Porto, but it’s surprising that they lost that match given that they had 32 shots in total.
Head To Head
Porto holds the advantage in the overall record as they have won 18 times compared to the 15 wins recorded by Sporting. The visitors this weekend also come into the game having won the last three meetings, where they have scored at least two goals per game.
Sporting Lisbon vs FC Porto Pick
This should be an entertaining game between two sides that will be looking for a finish in a European place this season. However, Porto will likely get the win as they will be looking to bounce back from their disappointing result last time out.
