Preview: Casa Pia vs. Arouca - prediction, team news, lineups

The home side head into the weekend on a run of two consecutive victories and will be eying a third win on the bounce for the first time since March.

Match preview

Newly-promoted Casa Pia have enjoyed an impressive return to the Portuguese top flight as they have picked up seven points from a possible 12 so far.

Filipe Martins's men secured their first set of consecutive victories this season as they narrowly saw off Vitoria de Guimaraes 1-0 away from home last Monday.

Despite being on the back foot for most of the game and seeing less than 40% of the ball possession, new signing Takahiro Kunimoto struck in the seventh minute to hand the hosts their second defeat of the season.

Prior to that, Os Gansos picked up one draw and one win from their opening two games of the season, before second-half goals from Rafael Martins and Saviour Godwin helped them to a 2-0 victory over Boavista on August 21.

Casa Pia will now fancy their chances of making it three straight wins as they return home where they are unbeaten in nine of their last 10 competitive games since January, claiming eight wins and one draw in that time.

Elsewhere, Arouca were sent crashing down to earth last time out as they were on the receiving end of a humbling 6-0 defeat against Braga when the sides squared off at the Estadio Municipal de Arouca.

Artur Jorge's men hit four goals in the first half courtesy of strikes from Simon Banza, Vitor Oliveira and a brace from Ricardo Horta before substitutes Andre Castro and Diego Lainez scored second-half goals to cap off a sensational team display.

Prior to that, the Arouquenses kicked off their 2022-23 Primeira Liga campaign with a 4-0 loss to Benfica on August 5 before claiming consecutive victories over Gil Vicente and Santa Clara in their subsequent two outings.

While Arouca will be looking to return to winning ways, they have struggled to grind out results on the road, where they are winless in eight of their last nine games across all competitions — losing seven and claiming one draw since the start of March.

Casa Pia Primeira Liga form:

Casa Pia form (all competitions):

Arouca Primeira Liga form:

Arouca form (all competitions):

Team News

Off the back of securing another clean sheet, Martins could name an unchanged back three of Joao Nunes, Vasco Fernandes and Nermin Zolotic, shielding Ricardo Batista in goal for the fourth straight game.

Rafael Martins and Kunimoto have been involved in two of Casa Pia's three goals so far, and we expect to see both men in attack on Sunday, alongside 26-year-old winger Godwin.

On the injury front, Casa Pia will be without experienced forward Carnejy Antoine, who came off injured in pre-season, while newly-signed defender Duplexe Tchamba has been out of action since May while in action for Danish outfit SonderjyskE.

As for Arouca, Evangelista will have to make do with the absence of 23-year-old forward Oday Dabbagh, who is yet to feature this season after picking up an injury back in June.

He is joined on the club's injury table by the duo of Sema Velazquez and 30-year-old defender Nino Galovic, who have been sidelined through ACL and knee injuries respectively.

Twenty-three-year-old forward Oday Dabbagh, who made 23 appearances last season, is yet to feature for the Arouquenses this season through injury and is out of contention for this weekend's clash.

Casa Pia possible starting lineup:

Batista; Nunes, Fernandes, Zolotic; Soares, Taira, Neto, Lelo; Kunimoto, Martins, Godwin

Arouca possible starting lineup:

Arruabarrena; Milovanov, Basso, Opoku, Esgaio; Soro, Busquets, Ruiz; Nunes, Bukia, Mujica

We say: Casa Pia 1-1 Arouca

Casa Pia have enjoyed a fine start to their top-flight campaign and this has been owing to the solid job done at the defensive end of the pitch. Arouca, meanwhile, will be looking to regroup and get their season back on track following their disappointing loss against Braga. We predict a cagey affair at the National Sports Center of Jamor, with both sides settling for a share of the spoils.

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