Sao Paulo vs Sport Recife Predictions

Monday’s Brazilian Serie A action sees Sao Paulo doing battle with relegation threatened Sport Recife. The hosts are expected to pick up the 3 points with relatively few issues.

After winning just 2 of their last 12 matches, Sao Paulo’s once strong looking title bid has really petered out but the side will at least look to cap what’s still been a decent campaign with a good showing in what’s the final home match of the year. 5th and already assured of Copa Libertadores football next year, there’s not a great deal riding on the fixture for Triclor but we still expect to see them putting in a motivated performance.

Considering little was expected of them at the start of the year, Sao Paulo have performed fairly well overall this term and can be pleased with the work they’ve put in. Nonetheless, the poor run of form rather harshly cost Diego Aguirre his job and it’s André Jardine who now finds himself in caretaker charge and he’ll be hopeful of guiding the team to a good result, having thus far overseen a home draw with Gremio, a home win over Cruzeiro and a defeat away at Vasco during midweek.

Meanwhile, Sport Recife find themselves in huge trouble; two points adrift of safety with just 2 matches left to play. It always looked like being a season of struggle for Leão after they only just beat the drop zone last season.before going on to lose several key players and so it has proved, with the side now looking destined to play Serie B football next season.

Having lost their last 2 matches and not won in 4, Sport arrive in very poor form and confidence is not running high in the visiting camp at the moment. As such, they’ll need to find significant improvement if they are to take something from this trip but that’s not something that looks at all likely, given they’ve lost 13 of their 18 away games this season.

Ultimately, this is a fixture in which it’s impossible to envisage anything but a home win in. Sao Paulo are a far stronger outfit than the visitors, evidenced by the fact the two have been fighting at different ends of the table throughout the year and if the hosts approach the fixture in the correct manner, they really should be taking all 3 points.

That’s something reflected in the price on offer for a home win but we still see good value in backing Sao Paulo to win, when combining said victory with a clean sheet. Sao Paulo have lost just once at home all season, winning 10 of their 18 matches in the process and with Sport so poor on the road and having failed to score in 3 of their last 4 matches, a 1-0 margin of home victory could well be on the cards.