In the early hours of Wednesday morning, Bahia and Palmeiras meet in Brazil’s Serie A, with both sides in need of points for very different reasons.
High-flying Palmeiras will be hoping to return to winning ways to keep themselves in the top four and cement a place in next season’s Copa Liberatores.
Bahia, on the other hand, will be aiming to claim all three points to steer clear of the relegation zone, with a handful of teams hot on their heels near the bottom.
Bahia snapped a four-game winless streak by beating Athletico-PR 2-0 last weekend, thanks to goals from Rai Rocha Soares and Gilberto.
That was only their second Serie A victory in 14 matches, having registered a series of disappointing results over the past few months.
Only six of the top seven sides in Brazil’s top tier have netted more goals than Bahia’s 28 this season, meaning they are averaging over one goal per game.
However, they have also conceded 38 goals – giving them the joint-worst defensive record in the division.
Palmeiras, meanwhile, head into this clash on the back of a 4-2 defeat at the hands of Red Bull Bragantino.
Despite seeing 56% possession and chalking up 20 shots – six of which were on target – they ended up suffering a heavy loss last time out.
That defeat means that Palmeiras are currently enduring a poor six-match winless streak across all competitions.
Their last victory came just over a month ago. Since then, they have registered three draws and three losses.
It is also worth noting that both teams have scored in each of Palmeiras’ previous five encounters in all competitions.
Head-to-head: Bahia haven’t beaten Palmeiras since 2012, meaning Palmeiras are enjoying a 14-game unbeaten streak in this fixture.
That said, both teams have scored in five of the last six Serie A meetings between the two sides, while Palmeiras have netted exactly three goals in each of the past two.
Team news: Bahia will be without injured quartet German Conti, Marcelo, Juan Pablo Ramirez and Rossi for the visit of Palmeiras.
Palmeiras, on the other hand, could be without as many as six first-team players – including goalkeeper Weverton, who is away on international duty.
With Palmeiras flying high in third place and Bahia languishing all the way down in seventeenth, the visitors should claim all three points.
Forebet predicts that both teams will score. However, Palmeiras should be too strong for Bahia.
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