Ponte Preta vs Santa Cruz Predictions & Betting Tips, Match Previews

Right now you would back just about anybody in the Brazilian Serie A to beat Santa Cruz with relative ease and certainly Ponte Preta should be no different, particularly with home advantage. The main reason for that is Santa Cruz have been fairly shocking at the back for much of the season and their problems seem to be getting worse not better.

They have the worst defensive record in the division by quite some margin now, averaging 1.80 goals conceded per match and 2.13 on the road. They’ve conceded 3 or more times in all of their last 5 league outings, losing all of those matches to all but condemn themselves to relegation. Confidence must now be at rock bottom but the only positive thing you can say about them is that they do still possess a goal threat. They have two of the top ten scorers in the division and are still trying to play positively but they look like a side resigned to their fate.

Ponte Preta are pretty well equipped to expose their defensive deficiencies too. They play an attacking brand of football at home and have scored twice or more in 7 of their last 9 home games, winning 6 of them. This will certainly be a game they are targeting 3 points from but they aren’t always tight at the back so an away goal certainly is a possibility here. 67% of Ponte Preta matches and 60% of Santa Cruz games have had over 2.5 goals this term so we should see a few in this one.

It is certainly the hosts that have much the greater all-round quality though. They’ve beaten many better sides than Santa Cruz at home this season and they ought to be able to put some distance between themselves and the Recife club here, so backing Ponte Preta to Win 3-1 at 12/1 looks to offer value in the correct score market.