Liontips
Sporting vs. Benfica: Portuguese Championship Match Prediction
The central match of the 16th round of the Portuguese Primeira will see title contenders and archrivals Sporting and Benfica meet. In the three previous face-to-face matches, the Eagles failed to defeat the Lions. How will the next confrontation on December 29 go and what reliable bets to choose? – the answer is in our forecast
Command Analysis
Sporting CP
PortugalCurrent form
Sporting had a strong start, but gradually slowed down and allowed their main competitors Porto and Benfica to catch up. It is obvious that the departure of Ruben Amorim did not have the best effect on the game and results of the Lions. In the last four rounds, the team, which is now led by Rui Borges, suffered two defeats. However, they managed to more or less stabilize the results - a victory over Boavista (3:2) and a draw with Gil Vicente (0:0), which can hardly be considered an asset. After 15 matches played, Sporting has 37 points and is third in the table. Benfica is ahead by one point, Porto has already played its match of the 16th round and is leading by three points.
Disqualifications and injuries
Inacio, Morita, Braganza, Santos and Goncalves will not play today due to injuries.
Interesting trends for betting
- Sporting have drawn in the first half of their last four matches
- Goals have been exchanged in four of Sporting previous five matches
Estimated line-up: Israel - Debas, Diomande, Quaresma - Kenda, Simos, Yulmann, Catamo - Trincao, Araujo - Gyekeres.
Benfica
PortugalCurrent form
Benfica suffered a 0-2 defeat to Famalicao in the very first round of the Primeira Liga back in August and has not lost in the national championship since then – 12 wins and two draws. With 38 points, the team approaches the upcoming game in second place, two points behind Porto, which has already played its match of the 16th round. In the last two rounds, Bruno Lage’s charges have achieved “dry” victories over Nacional (2-0) and Estoril (3-0) with class. It should be noted that the “eagles” have the most reliable defense in the championship – only eight goals conceded.
Disqualifications and injuries
Sanchez, Presciani and Goveia will not play today due to injuries.
Interesting trends for betting
- Benfica have not lost in the first half in their last five matches
- There have been no goals scored in four of Benfica previous five matches
Estimated line-up: Trubin - Ba, Araujo, Silva, Carreras - Kekcu, Eursnes - Di Maria, Akturkoglu, Beste - Pavlidis.
Trends
Benfica to score in first half
In three of the last five matches, Benfica scored goals in the opening 45 minutes
2.10Bet Total first half under 1.5 goals
Three of the previous four head-to-head matches have seen no more than one goal scored in the first half
1.50Bet Exact score 0:2
Benfica last three victories have been with a clean sheet
15.50Tip and bets
In our opinion, bookmakers are slightly overestimating the current capabilities of the hosts. Sporting has noticeably slowed down after Amorim left, winning only one of the last four rounds, and even then it was not without problems to deal with Boavista. Benfica is not slowing down, plays reliably in defense, has lost only once since the beginning of the season. We think that the Eagles will score at least one point today in a fundamental battle.
Our prediction is Benfica will not lose at odds of 1.64
Bet on total
When choosing a bet on the total, we start from the reliable defense of Benfica and the obvious decline in the game of Sporting. The Eagles have conceded only eight goals in 15 rounds, it is unlikely that they will allow the opponent to score twice today.
The second bet is Sporting individual total goals under 1.5 with odds of 1.76
Bet on the first half
In four consecutive matches involving Sporting, a draw was recorded in the first half. We expect that today the opponents will not force the events on the field and all the most interesting things, including goals, will be in the second 45 minutes.
Prediction - draw in the first half with odds of 2.38
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