In the first match after International Matchday, the two teams at the bottom of the Portuguese Superliga table and on three points each will battle it out on Sunday, with Givicent welcoming Estoril to Barcelos City Stadium. Both teams have failed to live up to expectations in their four league matches before the most recent matchday and will now seek to bounce back with a win.
After finishing last season in 13th place in the Portuguese Superliga, maintaining an 11-point gap to the relegation zone, Givicent are once again aiming for a safe mid-table position and possible top-half contention under new coach Vitor Campelos.
After being knocked out of the first round of the Portuguese League Cup by Olivierense, Givicent started their mid-August premier league campaign like a dream, hosting Porto Munnis in their opener and thrashing them 5-0, with Fijermoto scoring twice in the first half and Pedro Tiba, Tidjani Toure and Gabriel Pereira breaking through one after another in the second half.
However, they failed to build an encouraging platform under their new manager and went into the international break having lost their next three league games in a row, first losing 2-1 in the away leg at Vitoria Guimarães and then coming up empty-handed in a thrilling clash with giants Benfica, and although Toure's goal reduced the gap to one, Petar Moussa scored for the visitors with a A third goal from Maxime Dominguez came too late to force a reversal.
In their final match before International Day, Campellos' side traveled to Vizela at the beginning of September and after a goalless first half, Mateusz Pereira scored the leading goal for the hosts in the 56th minute of the match and Gil Vicente was unable to equalize the score and thus returned home empty-handed once again.
Now, as a result of their decline, Givicent have only gained three points, and although they have not suffered any major defeats in the first phase of the season, they will be keen to improve their fortunes in the next few weeks and really start their season off right, starting with a win at the weekend in their home game.
Estoril started their campaign in the Portuguese League Cup with victories over Ferreira and Belençais before coming up a little short in their league opener, eventually falling 4-3 away in Arouca, and despite Jordan Holsgrove, João Marques and Alejandro Marques taking the lead on three successive occasions, each time the visitors drew level before Pedro Santos scored in the scored the decisive goal in the 96th minute of the game, while the hosts played the entire second half of the match with just 10 men as they were shown a red card in the 37th minute.
Estoril then beat Rio Ave 2-0 to get their first point of the season after an opening day defeat, thanks to goals from Eliaquim Mangala and Alejandro Marquez, before they traveled to newly-promoted Estrela Armandola, who returned home empty-handed thanks to a 2-1 loss in the match, with Joao Marquez's equalizer being followed by a Leo Cordero decisive goal in the 10th minute of injury time at the end of the game.
After that late disappointment, Estoril hosted Boavista for the latest time before matchday and, despite Alejandro Marquez equalizing with around half an hour to go, Estoril came away empty-handed once again as Thiago Moraes restored the visitors' lead and the league leaders held on for the win.
Having already suffered three defeats, Estoril are certainly disappointed with their start to the season and will be looking to take a positive step forward with a win on Sunday to move off the bottom of the table at this early stage.
Givicent's probable starting lineup: Andrews; Carlos, Pereira, Fernandez, Buta; Tiba, Dominguez; Marrone, Fijermoto, Toure; Baturina
Estoril's probable starting lineup: Figuera; Parra, Alvaro, Mangala, Araujo; Soares, Holsgrove, Marquez; Gitane, Marquez, Gomez.
SCORE PREDICTION: Givicent 1-2 Estoril, Both teams have international days to regroup and they will see this as a great opportunity to get back to winning ways on Sunday. While both teams are fairly close, the visitors have shown signs of offense so far this season that lead us to believe they could be victorious on the road, with Alejandro Marques looking to continue his fantastic start to the season in Portugal.
