Sporting hosts Tondela in round 27 of Portuguese Primeira Liga. The match will be played on Thursday, June 18th at Estádio José Alvalade (Lisbon)
Sporting is fighting for the Europa League zone. To ensure a comfortable gap from competitors, the team needs to win in every match, which means that it should be very motivated. The native arena Jose Alvalade is a real fortress for Sporting. It scored the most points in home matches of the championship (except for Porto and Benfica) - 27 out of 39 possible. The tactics of the Lions is simple - to take the ball under their control from the first minutes and begin to roll it in the midfield. The opponent will get tired quickly, chasing the ball most of the game, and then Sporting will take advantage of the physical advantage and squeeze the weaker opponent. The last home victories of Sporting over Pacos (1: 0), Aves (2:0), Boavista (2:0), Portimonense (2:1), and Maritimo (1:0) were exclusively low-scoring. Forward Vietto and midfielder Battaglia are injured, so the attacking potential of the Lions is somewhat limited, and we shouldn’t wait for a blowout.
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However, a pragmatic victory a la 1:0 or 2:0 should be expected. Tondela is in mediocre shape. The only victory in the last seven rounds over Aves (2:0) is hardly an argument for their further accumulation of points because the opponent is the weakest in the league, but it didn’t prevent it from delivering more shots and taking more corners than Tondela (6:12 and 5:7, respectively). Before this undeserved victory, the Gold-Greens suffered - they scored three points in only one out of 12 games, having beaten very weak Portimonense (1:0). However, even then they clearly rebounded: they lost in terms of shots (9:11), possession (37: 63%), and corner kicks (2:4). It was clear luck.
Only two wins over weak clubs since December 2019 evidence that the Gold-Greens are not ready to compete with other clubs in Primeira. But this does not bother them too much - it’s hard to lose eight points that separate them from the relegation zone, so there is almost no motivation for the rest of the season. The losses of the main defender and very important midfielder completely kill the chances of success of Tondela. Sporting’s cold-blooded footballers will find an approach to the box of the visitors and will gain another pragmatic victory – Under 4.5 goals scored didn’t take place in only one of the last nine head-to-head meetings of these teams.
Prediction for the match: Sporting to win and Under 4.5 goals scored
