Preview: Santa Clara vs. Moreirense - prediction, team news, lineups

Santa Clara and Moreirense lock horns at the Estadio de Sao Miguel on Wednesday, with the hosts sitting just one place and one point above their opponents in the Primeira Liga table.

Both sides will be looking to bounce back from defeats last time out, as the home side were defeated 1-0 away at Vitoria de Guimaraes, while Moreirense lost 3-2 at home to Tondela.

Match preview

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Santa Clara suffered a narrow defeat last time out, as Diogo Rochinha netted the only goal of the game in a 1-0 Vitoria de Guimaraes victory.

While their opponents did sit sixth in the table, Daniel Ramos may be disappointed by the fact that Vitoria ended a five-game losing run with that victory, while Santa Clara had a chance to leapfrog their opponents with a win, instead remaining in seventh spot.

Before that, Os Acoreanos picked up an eye-catching victory over basement side Nacional, as Mikel Villanueva, Carlos and Ukra all got on the scoresheet alongside a Rui Costa brace.

That stretched their strong run of form on home turf, with Ramos's men winning three and drawing one of their last four games at the Estadio de Sao Miguel.

Os Acoreanos will look to extend that strong run of home form on Wednesday, when they welcome Vasco Seabra's Moreirense.

The visitors will be looking to bounce back from a 3-2 defeat to Tondela last time out at their home ground.

An early Mario Gonzalez hat-trick put the visitors three goals ahead inside the first 15 minutes, and goals from Steven Vitoria and Rafael Martins were not enough to salvage a result for their side.

That came as a disappointment to Seabra, as his side looked to be building a strong run, having held league leaders Sporting Lisbon to a 1-1 draw, followed by a 2-1 victory away at a revitalised Gil Vicente side thanks to a Martins penalty and a Ygor Nogueira own goal.

Os Verdes e Brancos now sit in eighth spot in the Portuguese top flight, just one point behind Wednesday's opponents.

That means Seabra will be desperate to make a quick return to winning ways when they travel to the Estadio de Sao Miguel, as that would see them leapfrog Ramos's men and climb up to seventh place.

Team News

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Santa Clara's only absentee should be midfielder Julio Romao, who has been out of action since December with a knee injury.

Rui Costa is expected to lead the line for Ramos's side, having netted a brace in the 5-1 victory over Nacional.

Meanwhile, Crysan will continue his push to return to the starting side, with Os Acoreanos opting to go with a front three of Costa, Carlos and Allano in recent weeks.

Moreirense will come into this game without centre-back Steven Vitoria, who will serve a suspension after he was shown a red card deep into added time in the defeat to Tondela.

In his absence, Abdoulaye Ba will push for a return to the starting side alongside Lazar Rosic, while Nahuel Ferraresi will also be hoping to earn his place back after recently falling out of favour.

He will be joined on the sidelines by Pedro Nuno, Pedro Amador and Derik Lacerda, with all three players remaining out of action through injury.

Rafael Martins will lead the line, potentially with the support of the likes of Yan and Filipe Soares, while Walterson will be hoping for a return to the forward line after he was dropped to the bench for the last game.

Santa Clara possible starting lineup:
Pereira; Ramos, Villanueva, Cardoso, Mansur; Lincoln, Carvalho, Morita; Carlos, Costa, Allano

Moreirense possible starting lineup:
Pasinato; D'Alberto, Rosic, Ba, Conte; Walterson, Franco, A. Soares, Yan; F. Soares, Martins

We say: Santa Clara 1-1 Moreirense

With both sides having an outside chance of European qualification for next season, we see this being a fairly cagey game as both will fear what would be a damaging defeat.

We see this ending as a draw, with the sides somewhat cancelling each other out in a result which would not particularly benefit either.