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Sporting will entertain Chaves at the Estádio José Alvalade in their upcoming Portuguese Primeira Liga fixture on Saturday.
The hosts have endured a relatively slow start to their season and, after three games, find themselves in 10th place in the standings, just one place above the visitors.
In their previous outing, they suffered a 3-0 defeat against arch-rivals Porto. Chaves have endured a decent run in their return to the top-flight. After an opening-day defeat to Vitoria, they are undefeated in their last two games. After a 2-1 win over Maritimo two weeks ago, they played out a 1-1 draw against Vizela last time around.
Sporting vs Chaves Head-to-Head
The two teams have crossed paths 33 times across all competitions, with their last meeting coming in the 2018-19 campaign. As expected, the hosts have a better record against their northern rivals, with 17 wins to their name.
The visitors have been able to pick up just five wins against the Lisbon giants while 11 games have ended in draws. Leões are on a five-game winning streak against Chaves and have never faced a defeat against them at home in any competition. They last dropped points in a home game against Flavienses in 1990.
Sporting form guide (all competitions): L-W-D
Chaves form guide (all competitions): D-W-L
Sporting vs Chaves Team News
Sporting
Daniel Bragança underwent knee surgery last month and has a long recovery ahead of him and remains an absentee for the home team. Paulinho has not played since the opening fixture with an injury and is expected to sit this one out as well.
Pedro Porro was sent off in the game against Porto and will serve a suspension here.
Injured: Daniel Braganca
Doubtful: Paulinho
Suspended: Pedro Porro
Unavailable: None
Chaves
There are no reported absentees for the visitors for their trip to Lisbon and only João Teixeira will be absent on account of his red card in the game against Vizela.
Injured: None
Doubtful: None
Suspended: João Teixeira
Unavailable: None
Sporting vs Chaves Predicted XIs
Sporting CP (3-4-3): Antonio Adan; Luis Neto, Sebastian Coates, Goncalo Inacio; Rochinha, Hidemasa Morita, Manuel Ugarte, Matheus Reis; Francisco Trincao, Marcus Edwards, Pedro Goncalves
Chaves (4-3-3): Paulo Vítor (GK); João Correia, Steven Vitória, Nélson Monte, Bruno Langa; Kevin Pina, João Sabino Mendes, Ricardo Guimarães; Bernardo Martins Sousa, Hector, João Bachi
$1,100 First Bet Insurance at Caesars
Sporting vs Chaves Prediction
Sporting suffered a defeat last time around and will be gunning to return to winning ways in this match. They are the favorites at home and, having not lost a game to the visitors at Saturday's venue, that only bolsters their odds of a win here.
A clean sheet for either side seems unlikely and we back the hosts to eke out a narrow win here.
Prediction: Sporting 2-1 Chaves
