Benfica v Vizela

Nine matches remain in the 2021/22 Primeira Liga season, and once again, we are witnessing a two-horse race at the top between Porto and Sporting, albeit in reversed order, whilst Benfica and Braga trail behind. Once again, we are seeing a jam-packed relegation fight that sees Belenenses-SAD rooted to the bottom of the table with 16 points whilst Moreirense (20), Tondela (21), Arouca (22) and Vizela (24) are competing amongst each other. One of those four teams will be relegated, one of them will be playing in the promotion/relegation play-off, and two of them will stay up.

Vizela will be paying a visit to the Estádio da Luz on Friday night where they will be taking on Benfica ahead of the Lisbon club’s second leg of their Round of 16 tie against Ajax. Alvaro Pacheco’s side fell to a 3-1 defeat against Santa Clara at the weekend and will be facing a Benfica side that has won back-to-back matches against Portimonense and Vitória de Guimarães. 

Benfica fell behind early on as Adel Taarabt coughed up possession with an inexplicable back pass to Carlinhos, who threaded the needle into Welinton Júnior who converted from close range. Taarabt would make up for his error just before halftime when, after his corner kick bounced back to him, he dribbled past an opponent and cut into the byline and fired a cross into the path of Alex Grimaldo, who converted for Benfica from the edge of the box. Benfica’s second goal also came from a corner kick with the visitors recovering possession and sliding the ball into Rafa Silva, whose shot was deflected by Portimonense goalkeeper Samuel Portugal and into the path of Gonçalo Ramos who converted into an empty net. With Ramos, Darwin Nùñez and Rafa Silva in this kind of form, I expect Benfica’s attack to overpower Alvaro Pacheco’s side in their bid to avoid their first and last campaign in the Primeira in 1984, when they were relegated after a year.

---

Estoril Praia v Portimonense

Whilst Portimonense’s 2-1 defeat to Benfica was their first loss since January, their last victory in the league came in a 1-0 victory against relegation strugglers Moreirense on December 12. Estoril have won their last two matches against the Algarvian side with their latest being a 2-0 win on October 24 via goals from André Franco and Bruno Laurenço. They sit two points ahead of Portimonense and, after conceding six goals in consecutive defeats to Sporting and Boavista, managed to escape Barcelos with a 0-0 draw against Gil Vicente, the runaway favorites for the elusive fifth place. 

Estoril maintained just 35% possession but nevertheless registered a similar amount of shots (10 to Gil’s 14) and impressed against a wealth of talents such as Pedrinho, Fran Navarro and Samuel Lino. I am expecting a fairly balanced match-up between two upper-half sides and a cagey affair. Whilst Estoril will be without January arrival Raúl Silva due to suspension, they are well stocked with 21-year-old academy product Bernardo Vital who should slot into central defense alongside Venezuelan center back Nahuel Ferraresi. Portimonense, in contrast, should suffer quite a bit more due to the suspension of Moroccan defender Fahd Moufi.

Both clubs have impressed this season thanks more due to a defensive solidity rather than their attacking firepower, and both clubs are in desperate need of a victory as they enter the home stretch of the campaign.

---

Famalicão v Santa Clara

Famalicão’s three-match winning streak came to an end on Sunday night, taking the lead within six minutes from Pedro Rodrigues but conceding the equalizer just before halftime via Colombian striker Óscar Estupiñán and the winning goal just after the interval via Rochinha. They will be looking to bounce back at home against Santa Clara. They have won four of their last five against the Azorean side, who continued their good run of form at the weekend with a 3-1 win against Vizela. Having looked set for a looming relegation fight at the start of the season, Santa Clara now find themselves 10th in the table and 3 points above Famalicão following impressive draws to Braga and Gil Vicente as well as victories against Sporting and Moreirense.

Both teams have plenty of weapons in attack with Brazil duo Crysan and Lincoln dazzling in attack in the Azores and Simon Banza forming impressive chemistry alongside João Carlos Teixeira and Bruno Rodrigues. I am expecting goals aplenty in a match between two sides who look set for a comfortable mid-table finish this year.

---

Arouca v Paços de Ferreira

Another team whose winning streak came to an end last weekend was César Peixoto’s Paços de Ferreira, who fell to a 4-2 defeat to league leaders Porto. Arouca, meanwhile, fell to Porto’s title competitors in a 2-0 loss as a brace from Islam Slimani led a heavily rotated Sporting to a much-needed victory. The last fixture between the two sides saw Paços go down a man in the 55th minute but grind out a 0-0 draw at home.

Paços are far away from their impressive fifth-place finish of last season but are nevertheless on track for a comfortable midtable finish under Peixoto thanks to an impressive defense – only Portimonense, Estoril, and the top five have conceded fewer goals than the Beavers. André Ferreira has impressed between the sticks, Marco Baixinho and Maracás have proved a formidable duo in central defense, whilst Vitorino Antuñes has impressed in his third spell at the club and brought his experience at the left back position. Arouca, on the other hand, have conceded 45 goals, surpassed only by Tondela and Belenenses-SAD

---

Belenenses-SAD v Boavista

After leading the club to an impressive 10th-place finish in 2020/21, Petit was relieved of his duties as Belenenses-SAD manager on October 19 after the side narrowly beat fourth-division Berço SC with a last-minute goal in the Taça de Portugal. B-SAD had picked up four points and no wins in their first eight fixtures and felt they had no other option but to cut ties with Petit and bring in Filipe Cândido, who had never coached a Primeira side before and who resigned on January 10 following a run-in with chairman Rui Pedro Soares.

Franclim Carvalho, who had never had a head coaching role, nevermind a Primeira job, took charge on an 18-month contract but has been unable to save the club from capsizing. Belenenses-SAD were able to secure a hard-fought 1-1 draw at relegation rivals Tondela but nevertheless sit bottom of the table with 16 points, six points away from safety.

Born in Strasbourg, France, Petit moved to Portugal at two years old and joined Boavista’s academy in 1987 where he would spend eight years; he returned in 2000 and played an instrumental role in the club’s only league title in their 118-year history. Petit would remain just two years at Bessa before heading to Benfica, but he returned in 2012 for what would be the final season in his career.

Petit was appointed player-coach of Boavista in October 2012 and became the full-time manager the following season where he would remain until December 2015. Nearly six years after his departure, Petit returned to Boavista on December 2 following the departure of João Pedro Sousa.

Often shoehorned as a defensive, ‘park-the-bus’ manager, Petit has proved his critics wrong and allowed the likes of Gustavo Sauer and Petar Musa to thrive in attack alongside the buccaneering wingback duo of Nathan Santos and Yanis Hamache. Recent weeks have seen Boavista erase an early two-goal deficit and draw 2-2 to Benfica, as well as win 3-2 at Estoril and draw 1-1 against Braga, and they should have enough to sink Belenenses-SAD even further into the bottom.

---

18+ please gamble responsibly.

---

Back the Four and Five Star Selections as an Accumulator on Betfair ⬇️

*Bet link only appears when accessing from mobile.

---

Haven’t got a Betfair account? You’re in luck…

Sign up to Betfair and get a full refund if your first bet loses. Grab an account through the offer below and place £20 on the 9/1 Primeira Liga Best Bets Accumulator. Here are the two possible outcomes: