Juventude will be aiming to move off the foot of the Brazilian Serie A table when they welcome Ceara to the Estadio Alfredo Jaconi on Sunday.
With 18 games in the books, Juventude find themselves rock bottom of the standing on 13 points – one point behind second-bottom Fortaleza.
Meanwhile, Ceara sit eleventh in the table – 11 points clear of Juventude and three points inside the top 12.
Juventude head into Sunday’s clash on the back of a thumping 4-0 thrashing to Flamengo, in which they saw just 37% possession and faced 27 shots.
As a result, Juventude have failed to win any of their past nine league games – registering three draws and six defeats in the process.
When you look at the bigger picture, Juventude have managed to win just two of their 18 Serie A games this season – recording seven draws and nine losses.
To make matters worse for Juventude, they have the worst defensive record in the league. Having conceded 32 goals, they average 1.77 goals against per game in 2022.
On the flip side, Ceara come into this clash on the back of two straight wins. After dispatching Corinthians 3-1, they beat Avai 1-0 last time out.
It is also worth noting that Ceara have won four of their past five encounters across all competitions, thanks to victories in the Copa Sudamericana and Copa do Brasil.
On top of that, Ceara have lost just one of their previous eight games in all competitions – sealing five wins and two draws in that time.
Still, Ceara have only managed to win five of their 18 league games this year – registering nine draws and four losses along the way.
Head-to-head: Juventude have claimed just one victory in their last eight matches against Ceara across all competitions.
It is worth pointing out, however, that four of the previous eight meetings between Juventude and Ceara have ended in a draw.
Team news: Juventude are currently without right winger Guilherme Parede as he continues to recover from a cruciate ligament rupture.
Ceara are injury-free at the moment, meaning head coach Marquinhos Santos will have a full-strength squad at his disposal on Saturday.
There is no hiding the fact that Juventude have been the worst team in the league this year. Consequently, they look set to suffer another defeat this weekend.
Forebet predicts that Ceara will score over 1.5 goals and keep a clean sheet en route to dispatching Juventude.