Leixoes VS Santa Clara

Leixoes and Santa Clara lock horns in this League Cup round 2 clash at Estádio do Mar in Matosinhos early Thursday morning Beijing time. The hosts play in the second tier of Portuguese football, Liga Portugal2. Santa Clara, on the other hand, play in Liga Portugal. It has not a good season for Santa Clara in the league so far.They have looked a lot worse than last season when they even managed to finish in the 7th place with 40 points to their account. This was, however, six points more than they would have deserved in terms of expected points (xPTS). Their bad goal difference of 38:54 tells a lot.. The 7th place was much higher than I, the betting market or most football analysts would have believed before the season of 2011-2022 started. It seems to me that the betting market fails to realize how much their level has dropped this season and keep over-rated them..They have taken just 13 points so far and have netted the ball just 11 times which is the third-lowest number in the league. Their position in the standings is 14th in this league with a total of 18 teams and they might even have to fight hard to avoid relegation this season. I expect their coach Mario Silva,45, to rotate the squad here as League Cup is not the main priority for Santa Clara this season Furthermore, I think Silva is an over-rated coach. For Leixoes, on the other hand, this is a big game and a large number of home fans are expected to be boosting their team at Estádio do Mar.

In their most recent match Santa Clara did beat Estoril as favorites according to the bookies 3-1 at home. The final is, however, somewhat misleading as the visitors had 65% ball possession. They also recorded more scoring attempts, total passes, attacks and dangerous attacks. Santa Clara did, quite interestingly, record much more shots on goal. They are usually not a very good team on the road and even lost five matches in row August-October before getting a few better results – with some luck though. They will surely find it hard to break the hosts' very solid defense. Indeed, they have allowed just 11 goals so far in Liga Portugal2. This is the second-lowest number in the league after Feirense (nine) Leixoes' defensive structure has been very solid which will be instrumental here against a stronger opponent. I do not expect the hosts to be very aggressive here as Santa Clara can be deadly on counter attacks and their strikers are more skilled than most strikers in Liga Portugal2 where the hosts have taken 19 points but would have deserved 21. The number of expected goals low – even lower than the betting market thinks and the draw (34%)would not surprise anyone. This would be enough for my fans and me to win once again betting on this this competition. I think there is no favorite in this clash and with the recommended +0.5 goals handicap option the chance of winning is 67%. Leixoes are in very good form and have not lost any of their latest 11 matches and would deserve more respect from the bookies! They started this competition last week with a win over Oliveirense at home.