Moreirense will be facing Feirense after conquering the first major trophy for the club by beating Braga in the final of the Portuguese League Cup. Despite the players being really motivated, Augusto Inácio already requires high focus in this game against Feirense since they still have other objectives to achieve. Geraldes and Podence, who were two of the most important players in the team, returned to Sporting and Augusto Inácio will need to deal with this issue since they were two of the most important players on the pitch. Nildo Petrolina and Boateng are believed to be replacing them and they will certainly give consistency. Neto and Bouba Saré are the only unavailable players and Moreirense will be a completely motivated team trying to defeat Feirense. The team should take advantage of this moment and they should be slight favourites despite Feirense’s good moment in the Portuguese league.
Feirense will be a confident team to face Moreirense since they have only lost once in 2017 against Sporting. Sometimes they should gain some more consistency by conquering more than one point in each game, but it is also true that it is better to earn only one point that none in some other matches. This should be a competitive match between two teams that are still safe in the table at the moment, but Feirense will definitely want to continue with their good moment in the season. Portuguese manager Nuno Manta will keep almost the same strategy for this match and Cris should be the only player returning to the line-up after suspension. Feirense will definitely try to take advantage of some possible overconfidence from some of Moreirense’s players and they should be expected to keep quite balanced during the whole match trying to earn at least one point from this clash.
Verdict & Prediction
Despite their classification in the Portuguese league, Moreirense will be extremely motivated after conquering a trophy for the club. This was perhaps the most notable trophy conquered by the club, so the players will certainly be delighted with this achievement. However, they are still not totally comfortable in the table, which means they really need to continue with positive performances to achieve one more objective of the club by the end of the season, trying to avoid relegation. After such a great success, Moreirense will be more favourite to win and should have more chance of conquering the three points. Nevertheless, Feirense will be a competitive opponent and should also have fair opportunities to score. Feirense should be taking advantage of some possible match fitness issues of some Moreirense’s players and possibly some overconfidence from their last achievement in the Portuguese League Cup.
Prediction : Over 2.00 goals (stake refunded if only two goals)
Odds: 1.81 Pinnacle
