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Benfica host Moreirense at the Estadio da Luz in Portuguese Primeira Liga action after they returned to winning ways with a 2-0 victory at home to Pacos de Ferreira last week.
The hosts are third in the league standings behind Porto and Sporting. Porto are now the only unbeaten side in the competition after Sporting fell to a 3-2 loss at Santa Clara in their previous outing.
Moreirense have two wins in their last three outings and returned to winning ways with a narrow 1-0 victory at Vizela in their previous league fixture. As Águias have just one loss at home this season and are the favorites against the northern Portuguese side.
Benfica vs Moreirense Head-to-Head
The two clubs have gone head-to-head 30 times across all competitions since 2002. As expected, the hosts have been the dominant side in the fixture with 23 wins. Meanwhile, the visiting side have managed to get the better of the Lisbon giants just twice.
The last win for the visitors came at Saturday's venue in the 2018-19 campaign. The spoils have been shared five times in this fixture. They last met in the opening fixture of the campaign at Parque Joaquim de Almeida Freitas. Benfica came out on top with a 2-1 win.
Benfica form guide (all competitions): W-L-L-W-W
Moreirense form guide (all competitions): W-L-W-L-L
Benfica vs Moreirense Team News
Benfica
Rodrigo Pinho and Lucas Veríssimo remain sidelined with cruciate ligament ruptures while Nemanja Radonjić is also sidelined with a muscle injury. Jan Vertonghen remains a doubt.
Roman Yaremchuk, Souahilo Meite, Pizzi and Odysseas Vlachodimos have recovered from COVID-19 and have trained ahead of the game.
Injured: Nemanja Radonjic, Lucas Verissimo, Rodrigo Pinho
Doubtful: Jan Vertonghen
Suspended: None
Moreirense
The visitors travel to the capital without any injury or suspension concerns while Sori Mané is the only absentee as he is currently with the Guinea-Bissau national team at the ongoing 2021 AFCON.
Injured: None
Doubtful: None
Suspended: None
Unavailable (International duty - AFCON): Sori Mané
Benfica vs Moreirense Predicted XI
Benfica Predicted XI (4-4-2): Odysseas Vlachodimos; Valentino Lazaro, Nicolas Otamendi, Morato, Alex Grimaldo; Rafa Silva, João Mário, Julian Weigl, Everton Soares; Haris Seferovic, Goncalo Ramos
Moreirense Predicted XI (3-4-3): Kewin Oliveira Silva; Lazar Rosic, Steven Vitória, Artur Jorge; Paulinho, Abdu Conte, Filipe Soares, Fabio Pacheco; Felipe Pires, Rafael Martins, Walterson
Benfica vs Moreirense Prediction
Benfica have just two clean sheets at home in the league this season while Moreirense won their first away game at Vizela last time around. They have scored just thrice in their last six away games and are expected to struggle against the hosts.
A comfortable win and a clean sheet seem to be on the cards for Benfica here.
Prediction: Benfica 2-0 Moreirense
