Vitoria vs Sao Paulo Predictions

Friday’s Brazilian Serie A action sees relegation threatened Vitoria doing battle with the out of form Sao Paulo. The hosts will be looking to claim what would be a crucial win in front of their own fans.

If Vitoria’s last two outings have shown anything, it’s that they are up for the fight and appear desperate to save their Serie A lives once again. Leão da Barra first managed to grind out a scrappy 1-0 win away at relegation rivals Chapecoense, whilst they showed excellent fighting qualities to draw 2-2 with Corinthians last weekend, despite having went 2-1 down in the 91st minute.

Nonetheless, just 2 points above the drop zone at the time of writing, the hosts remain in a precarious position and desperately need to hit a run of form in the 8 games that remain. Given 72.72% of their points this season have been collected on home soil, and they’ve won 6 of their last 11 home matches, the 4 fixtures left to play at the Estádio Manoel Barradas are of particular importance and 3 points will be the only target going into Friday’s.

Meanwhile, visitors Sao Paulo have self-imploded over the last month or so and arrive with morale very low. Tricolor had looked impressive throughout the campaign and were leading the pack just mere weeks ago but a terrible run of what’s now 6 matches without victory has them down in 4th place, 9 points adrift of leaders Palmeiras.

Last weekend, Diego Aguirre’s men couldn’t defeat an Atletico PR outfit that is terrible on their travels, being held 0-0 and the visitors fell to defeats against both Palmeiras and Internacional prior to that game, illustrating their ongoing struggles. Without a win in 5 on the road, an immediate improvement is unlikely to be found on Friday and the side look like facing an uphill battle against a highly motivated opponent.

Ultimately, given how poorly Sao Paulo have been playing in recent weeks, for them to be such big favourites according to the bookmakers makes very little sense and thus, some value does look set to be found in this fixture.

For all their struggles, Vitoria have looked pretty handy on home territory and we feel that backing them on the Draw No Bet line looks an excellent way to play. At worst, the hosts shouldn’t lose against a visiting outfit that simply cannot buy a win at the moment, but we think they’ll edge closer to safety via a 2-1 margin of victory.