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Benfica will host Arouca at the Estadio da Luz on Sunday in the penultimate round of the 2023-24 Primeira Liga campaign. The home side have enjoyed a largely solid league campaign and will finish second in the Liga Portugal standings for the first time since the 2019-20 season.
They were beaten 2-0 by Famalicao in their last match and had multiple chances to get on the scoresheet but failed to convert before their opponents seized the initiative to net two second-half goals and extinguish the Eagles' title ambitions.
Arouca have also performed well this season and are set to finish in the top half of the pile for a second consecutive campaign. They played out a goalless draw against Estrela Amadora in their last match and perhaps deserved more from the game after dominating possession for vast portions of the match.
Benfica vs Arouca Head-to-Head
There have been 17 meetings between Benfica and Arouca. The home side have won 15 of those games while the visitors have won just once. There has been one draw between the two teams.
The two sides last faced off in a league clash at the start of the year which the hosts won 3-0 via goals from Rafa Silva, Orkun Kokcu and the now-departed Petar Musa.
Benfica Form Guide in Primeira Liga: L-W-W-W-L
Arouca Form Guide in Primeira Liga: D-D-D-W-W
Benfica vs Arouca Team News
Benfica
Alexander Bah and Tomas Araujo are out with injuries and will not feature for the hosts this weekend. Juan Bernat has been out of action since March and is expected to remain out of the side on Sunday.
Injured: Alexander Bah, Tomas Araujo, Juan Bernat
Doubtful: None
Suspended: None
Arouca
Mateus Quaresma came off injured against Estrela last time out and is a doubt for the weekend clash. All other players are fit and available for selection by manager Daniel Sousa.
Injured: None
Doubtful: Mateus Quaresma
Suspended: None
Benfica vs Arouca Predicted XI
Benfica Predicted XI (4-2-3-1): Anatoliy Trubin; Fredrik Aursnes, Antonio Silva, Nicolas Otamendi, Alvaro Carreras; Florentino Luis, Joao Neves; David Neres, Orkun Kokcu, Angel Di Maria; Arthur Cabral
Arouca Predicted XI (4-2-3-1): Joao Valido; Bogdan Milovanov, Matias Rocha, Francisco Montero, Weverson; David Simao, Oriol Busquets; Jason, Cristo Gonzalez, Morlaye Sylla; Vladislav Morozov
Benfica vs Arouca Prediction
Benfica's latest result ended a three-game winning streak in the league and they will be looking to bounce back here. They are undefeated in their last 11 home matches and will be looking forward to the weekend clash.
Arouca are on a run of three consecutive draws and are undefeated in their last six matches. They have, however, had mixed results on the road of late and could see defeat here.
Prediction: Benfica 2-0 Arouca
