Santa Clara will welcome Sporting Lisbon to the Estádio de São Miguel this Friday evening as two sides at either end of the Primeira Liga meet in a must-win clash if either of them are to achieve their respective aims for the season.
Sporting are the reigning champions of Portugal after a phenomenal campaign that saw them go unbeaten all the way until the second to last game of the season where they met with rivals Benfica and lost 4-3.
It meant the Lisbon outfit finished the season with just the one defeat and with the Taça da Liga trophy too.
They are currently putting up an excellent fight for the defence of their Primeira Liga crown, as they are level on points with league leaders Porto and if they are to keep on the tail of them, they cannot drop points to a team towards the bottom end like Santa Clara.
It has been an absolutely torrid season for the side from Azores, as they are above the relegation zone by a mere point and have won just two games all season long - only Belenenses SAD have won less.
At the same time, the club have worryingly let in 32 goals from only 16 games and only 14 times to put them with the second worst goal difference record (-18) in the league.
They have, however, hit some decent form in the past few weeks and December was indeed their best month to date in the Portuguese top flight this season as they won twice and lost the same amount, which allowed them to jump out of the drop zone and finally get some wins on the board for the first time this campaign.
Nevertheless, the tone around the club right now is absolutely woeful as they've gone from finishing sixth with 13 wins last season, to now ending up i a relegation fight in just a matter of months, and following their must-win victory over fellow relegation fighters, Arouca, it’s vital they kick on now.
That seems doubtful against a Sporting side with 30 goals scored and a league-best seven goals conceded so far this season, and in fact, that defeat to Benfica towards the end of last season remains the only loss the club have experienced in the league in the past 17 months.
It should be a routine victory for the away side as they look to keep up their title defence in promising fashion, and Forebet predicts a win for Sporting here in a game that will see under 2.5 goals.
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