Benfica Lisbon vs Sporting Lisbon Prediction & Betting Tips - Liga Portugal

Prediction published on 01/12/2021, 10:45  by Daniel Ngulu | Modified on 01/12/2021 at 11:45 in Liga Portugal Predictions

The big game in the Primeira Liga comes this Saturday when Benfica plays host to champions Sporting Lisbon. One point separates the two giants, Benfica in third place with 31 points and Sporting second on 32 points. Benfica have overtaken Porto as the highest scorers in the league after netting 13 goals in just their last two league games. The highlight in their recent league matches has been early goals. They are coming from a 7-0 win over Belenenses, with all of those goals coming in the first half. Earlier, they beat Braga 6-1, with four first half goals. In the last three league games, they’ve scored 14 goals and 12 have come in the opening 45 minutes. This trend is consistent in at least three of their last five home league matches. Benfica have no clean sheet in their last four home matches, one of them a 1-0 loss to Portimonense, which is also their only loss in eight home league matches.

Sporting Lisbon are unbeaten in their last 13 league matches; Benfica was the last team to beat them and they’ll be keen to avoid a repeat. It ended 4-3 back then but Sporting had already been confirmed champions and had nothing much to play for. This will be different. They have four straight clean sheets in the league ahead of this game and seven straight wins. In four of their last five league matches, Sporting have managed to score in the first half and they will want to settle fast in this game so we expect them to go all out early in the game. Head to head, Sporting have the weaker run, having won just once in five meetings with Benfica, and lost the other four matches.