Flamengo vs Ponte Preta Predictions & Betting Tips, Match Previews

Flamengo look more and more like genuine title contenders with each passing week. They come into this match having won their last two league games and they were tricky ones too. They beat fellow title hopefuls Gremio 2-1 and were 3-1 winners away at Chapecoense, who are also in the top half last time out. They rounded off a good month by beating Figueirense 3-1 in the Copa Sudamericana last week to secure progress in that competition on away goals and will be targeting another victory here.

This is another tough task and Ponte Preta aren’t that far off the battle at the top end of the table themselves. They’re in 7th place but could potentially leapfrog the likes of Santos and Gremio (depending on other results) in the standings were they to win this and it would really send a message out to the other sides at the top that Ponte Preta should not be completely ruled out of the picture.

They did that to some extent last time out when they beat defending champions Corinthians 2-0 at home to extend their unbeaten streak to 4 games. However, the main reason people aren’t talking about them as title or even top five contenders is their away record. Their only away wins this term came at the bottom two sides and they’ve taken just 1 point from their last 4 on the road, although that did come via a surprising 2-2 draw at leaders Palmeiras last time out.

They were well beaten in their previous 3 away games though, conceding 3 or more goals on each occasion so it’s hard to read too much into that result at Palmeiras. Flamengo look the stronger all-round unit and have scored twice or more in all of their last 4 games. Therefore, backing Flamengo to Win at 8/11 is surely the smart move here.