Sporting CP vs Paços de Ferreira

In the second round of matches since the restart of the Portuguese Premeira Liga, we’ll be providing you with our betting tips, predictions and pre match analysis of Sporting CP vs Paços de Ferreira. Both teams have a lot to play for this Friday night in Lisbon.

The once mighty green and whites from Lisbon are clinging onto their European hopes, as they sit in 4th place, above 5th placed Famalicão only on goal difference. Meanwhile Paços have their own battle much further down the table, as they sit just one place above the relegation zone.

Sporting marked their return to Premeira Liga action with 2-2 away draw against 6th place Vitória Guimarães. While Sporting will no doubt have seen this as 2 points lost rather than a point gained, they can take some comfort in the fact that all of the league’s top 4 sides failed to win their reopening match. Slovakian striker Andraz Sporar netted both of Sporting’s goals last week, so the Lions will be hoping this kicks off a run of form for the forward, especially given that Brazilian forward Luiz Phellype appears set to miss the rest of the season.

While the league’s top 4 sides all failed to win on the reopening weekend, Paços were one of the two bottom 3 sides to win their first game back, as they pulled off a shock 3-2 victory over 7th place Rio Ave. The win means that they remain a stable 6 points above the drop zone. However, despite last week’s win and a 3-1 triumph over relegation bound Aves back in March, the road hasn’t exactly been kind to Paços, as they’ve failed to score in half of their away games this campaign, so a trip to Lisbon will seem a daunting task.

In the past, this fixture has favoured Sporting considerably, as they have a 29-9 advantage over Paços, with 7 draws also having taken place. The most recent of their 45 meetings make even worse reading for Paços, as Lisbon have won the last 7 meetings between the sides. You have to go all the way back to May 2013 to find the last time Paços got the better of Sporting, and back to January of that year to find their last recorded victory in Lisbon. Even against a Sporting side still in a rebuilding phase, a Paços victory in the Lion’s den looks very unlikely.

We’ve created our betting tip for this week based on our analysis of the history between the 2 teams plus this season’s form. While Sporting can hardly claim to be an in form team at the moment, a win in Lisbon this weekend is a bit too big an ask for Paços.

Based on the analysis above, we’re predicting a fairly comfortable but low scoring win for Sporting CP in Lisbon on Friday, with Andraz Sporar likely to get on the score sheet.

Sporting have been in a rebuilding process since 2017, when the president’s erratic behavior caused a mass exodus of players. Even prior to that, Sporting’s search for their first title since 2002 looked a long way off. Although the Lions are a long way from being a top side, they do have a good record at the José Alvalade Stadium, and should have enough firepower to see off Paços this Friday night. Sporting’s top goal scorer for the season is still departed midfielder Bruno Fernandes, who now plys his trade with Manchester United, so the Green & Whites will be turning to Andraz Sporar for goals, after the Slovakian bagged a brace last week.

Our betting tip for this week is a Sporting CP win + under 2.5 goals to be scored which you can place with Paddy Power at odds of 3.19.