This weekend sees the final round of games in the Portuguese Primeira and all the games will take place on Sunday. Arguably the biggest fixture is the match between Porto and Sporting Lisbon at the Estádio Do Dragão.
Porto are 2 points behind Benfica who currently lead the table and need to win this match and hope their rivals slip-up. Sporting Lisbon are in third place and will not be caught yet cannot catch Porto so they are playing for pride.
The hosts cannot afford to drop points and their league form has been excellent. Trends show Porto are undefeated in their last nine Primeira games. There have been eight wins and one draw, with the dropped points coming away to Rio Ave.
Home form shows thirteen wins from their last fourteen league matches and their only defeat in that run came against Benfica. Despite being only one loss, it has proved very costly.
Trends show Porto have scored 2 or more goals in eight of their last ten home games but their defensive record has been the real highlight. Porto have kept ten clean sheets in their last fourteen home Primeira matches and have conceded just 2 goals in their last seven, six of which have ended with clean sheets.
Sporting Lisbon have not managed to keep pace with Benfica and Porto this season and will have to settle for third place. However, they still have the cup final to come against the same opponent so will want to lay down a marker for that game.
Trends show Sporting Lisbon are undefeated in their last thirteen Primeira league games and have become difficult to beat. They have lost only three of their last twenty-six matches in the league and have won each of their last five on the road.
The away wins have come at Boavista, Chaves, Desportivo Aves, Nacional and Belenenses. The latter result was an impressive 8-1 win, with Bruno Fernandes scoring a hattrick.
Defensively, Sporting Lisbon have found clean sheets difficult to come by on the road. They have kept just two clean sheets in their last twenty-eight away league games and that is something they will want to improve next season. However, scoring goals has not been a problem.
Team news and Porto are without Iker Casillas and Fabiano which means Vana will play in goal. Yacine Brahimi is a doubt but Hector Herrera returns following suspension to take his place in midfield.
Sporting Lisbon have selection issues as Sebastián Coates and Stefan Ristovski are both suspended. Rodrigo Battaglia, Bruno Gaspar and Jefferson are injured and Marcel Keizer may decide to rest some of his first team regulars for the cup final.
Even if Sporting Lisbon were at full strength, you would still fancy Porto to win this game. Sporting Lisbon may score but Porto should have little trouble in breaking them down to get the goals needed to win.