Cruzeiro vs Gremio Predictions

Sunday’s Brazilian Serie A action sees Cruzeiro and Gremio going blow for blow at the Mineirão. Both teams arrive wounded after losing their respective Brazilian Cup semi-finals in the week but it’s Cruzeiro who are the more desperate to return to winning ways here.

It’s fair to say Cruzeiro don’t have time to dwell upon their cup exit to Internacional, with the side in a desperate league position. Raposa have fallen well below expectations so far this season, with some dreadful performances having seen them pick up just 18 points from 17 matches, putting them just 1 place and 4 points above the Serie B trapdoor.

Nonetheless, new boss Rogerio Ceni has came in from Fortaleza and brought about real improvement to the hosts’ league form, having claimed 7 points from his first 3 matches in charge. With that streak including home wins over Santos and Vasco respectively, confidence can be fairly high coming into Sunday’s game and there’s no doubt those taking to the pitch will be aiming for nothing less than victory.

Meanwhile, Gremio’s own cup exit could have a far greater effect on their morale, in the sense that they went into the second leg of it fully expecting to advance. Tricolor had defeated Athletico PR 2-0 prior to travelling to Curitiba but completely buckled under opposition pressure on the night, going down 2-0 losers in 90 minutes before crashing out on penalties.

As far as Serie A goes, Gremio are seriously underwhelming and as such, all focus for the remainer of the year is pretty much on Copa Libertadores affairs. Currently 11th with 22 points from 17 games, Renato Gaucho’s troops are showing little consistency in league action and having won none of their last 4 away league matches, that’s not something that looks like improving this weekend.

Ultimately, this is a match that features arguably the two biggest under performers of the Serie A season and neither side has covered themselves in any sort of glory. However, it’s Cruzeiro’s situation that is by far the more desperate of the two and as such, they have a huge need to claim points over the coming weeks.

All things considered, backing a Cruzeiro win looks the best way to play as far as the betting goes and is exactly where our money is going. All of their wins so far this season have come on home soil, they’ve looked strong under Ceni on their own patch do date and that leaves us believing they’ll run out 1-0 winners here.