Atletico Mineiro vs Santos Predictions

Wednesday’s Brazilian Cup round of 16, first leg action sees Atletico Mineiro doing battle with Santos. The visitors will be looking to continue the momentum they are building under boss Jorge Sampaoli.

After crashing out of the Copa Libertadores unexpectedly with some terrible showings, as well as losing the Campeonato Mineiro final to rivals Cruzeiro, the feeling around Atletico Mineiro isn’t great. 3 consecutive wins in the opening of the Serie A season had begun to change that, but the side were brought crashing back down to earth at the weekend, losing 2-0 at home to Palmeiras.

Although they were winning, Atletico weren’t playing well and it was no surprise to see them lose at the weekend. They were fortunate to beat Avai, Vasco and Ceara, who are all pretty weak opponents and it’s fair to say they still don’t look a powerful outfit ready to challenge the strongest sides in Brazil.

It’s still early days, but that is what Santos look like they are transforming into under ex-Argentina boss Jorge Sampaoli. Questions had been asked of him early on, but the team are starting to get used to his methods and way of playing and Peixe currently sit second in Serie A with 10 points from 4 games.

Santos are playing in a very attractive manner and what’s most impressive about their recent performances has been their quality in the final third. They’ve scored an average of 1,75 goals over their last 4 games and having just hammered Vasco 3-0, Santos arrive very confident ahead of Wednesday’s match.

Ultimately, we view Santos as favourites in this tie and they’ll be hungry to secure a positive result in this first leg. Atletico have looked far from convincing in 2019 and arriving off the back of a poor defeat, their morale will be lowered for this game.

All things considered, backing Santos on the Draw No Bet line looks the best way to play as far as the betting is concerned and is exactly where our money is going. At worse they shouldn’t lose the match, but having won 4 of the last 5 games between the two, we think they could edge ahead via a 1-0 margin of victory. Defensively, they shouldn’t be too troubled by an Atletico team that hasn’t scored in 2 of their last 3 home games, whilst at the other end, they have more than enough firepower to notch at least once.