Chaves drew their last fixture against Sporting, but they recently defeated them in the Portuguese Cup quarter-finals. The club qualified for the semi-finals of this competition and they still remain in 8th position in the league with one less game played than Boavista and Marítimo. They will have an opportunity to ascend to 6th position in the table, which is a sensational classification considering they have been promoted this year. For this match, Portuguese manager Ricardo Soares will be struggling with a high number of absentees, in which Fábio Martins is the most notable due to his amazing performances lately. The club has been really active in the transfer market in the last days and the Brazilian players Assis and Freire were both noticed to be leaving the club but should still start. On the other hand, Nuno André Coelho officially signed but will still miss this match, meaning that Ricardo Soares only called-up 17 players for this game, which they should remain the favourites to win.
Nacional were defeated in the last fixture against Vitória de Setúbal and they still remain in 17th position. According to the manager, the team will be under pressure for this match but they desperately need to win if they want to avoid relegation come the end of the season. The club signed two new Egyptian midfielders in the last days but they will both miss out on Monday, On the other hand, midfielder Aly Ghazal was noticed to be leaving the club for a Chinese club and it remains unclear if he will be playing in the starting team. If he doesn’t play, César will possibly play in midfield, whereas Tobias Figueiredo will start next to Rui Correia. For this match Washington will not be playing due to suspension and the full backs Victor Garcia and Sequeira will both miss the match due to injury and suspension, respectively. This will allow Mauro Cerqueira to appear in the left back spot, but the team should be quite weakened down both sides. This should be a very difficult match for them considering Chaves’ positive period in the league.
Verdict & Prediction
After defeating Sporting in the Portuguese Cup and having drawn against them in the previous game in the Portuguese league, the squad will certainly be confident for the next matches. Chaves’ players are having an outstanding season, being at this moment in 7th position of the league. In addition, the team recently qualified for the semi-finals of the Portuguese Cup which is a surprising result for a team that was promoted last year. Chaves will be the favourites to win this game since that Nacional are not playing at a decent level, but some possible match fitness issues due to the last match will possibly leave them tired during the last part of the game.
Prediction: Chaves -0.25 AH
Odds: 1.72 Pinnacle
