Palmeiras vs Bahia Predictions

Sunday’s Brazilian Serie A action sees Palmeiras doing battle with Bahia at the Allianz Parque. The hosts arrive as big favourites to claim all 3 points and are expected to do so with very few issues.

Just mere weeks ago, it looked like being business as usual for Palmeiras. They were playing extremely well, had built a big lead at the top of the table and looked well on course to retain the title they romped to last season. However, although they’ve recently booked their place in the quarter finals of the Copa Libertadores, their league form has taken a real dive and Luiz Felipe Scolari’s troops arrive for this clash having failed to win any of their last 4 Serie A matches.

Said sequence of results have allowed Santos to overtake them at the top and currently 4 points behind them in 2nd, Palmeiras cannot allow the gap to get any bigger and will be highly motivated to return to winning ways on Sunday. Having won a staggering 18 of their last 19 home league matches, confidence can still be very high in Verdao ranks prior to kick off and if the side play at their maximum, they’ll know they have more than enough to win the game.

Meanwhile, Bahia were in miserable form themselves but managed to stun big spending Flamengo last weekend, seeing them off 3-0 via a devastating display of counter attacking football. Tricolor are now up to 10th in the standings and a repeat of last week’s performance is what the visitors will be aiming to produce to further improve upon that.

Nonethless, Bahia’s hopes of being as effective on the break have been dealt a huge blow, given that key winger Artur cannot play in the match due to being on loan from Palmeiras. His pace and direct nature was crucial in the aforementioned win over Flamengo, and having failed to score in 4 of their last 5 games, Bahia arrive looking a weak attacking outfit that is going to struggle to threaten the hosts.

Ultimately, there only looks like being one winner in this match and that’s Palmeiras. Man for man, they are stronger than Bahia in all areas of the pitch and this is exactly the type of fixture they can ill afford to drop points in if they are to run out champions once again.

All things considered, backing the hosts to win to nil looks by far the best way to play as far as the betting is concerned and is exactly where our money is going. Palmeiras have won 12 of their last 13 home games to nil and an Artur-less Bahia are highly unlikely to trouble that sequence, with a 1-0 margin of home victory on the cards.