Benfica ended a disappointing 2020 with a nervy victory over Portimonense, and will now look to start 2021 off on the right foot in the Azores.

To start the year, Jorge Jesus will be without a handful of players. The latest to be unavailable are Gabriel and Cervi, both having tested positive for COVID. With Sporting CP having won their match on Saturday against Braga, Benfica will be aiming to cut the lead back to two points between them and their same city rival.

SANTA CLARA AT HOME

In São Miguel, the encarnados will encounter a Santa Clara side who are currently seventh in Liga NOS, with 13 points from a possible 33.

At home, only Boavista have been worse than Santa Clara. Daniel Ramos’ side has won just once at home, 2-0 against Marítimo in the first round of the season. Since then, they’ve played to a scoreless draw against Gil Vicente, and then lost three consecutive against Sporting (1-2), Porto (0-1), and Guimarães most recently (0-4).

It hasn’t been easy for the Açoreanos at home thus far, and it shouldn’t get any easier with Benfica coming to town.

BENFICA AWAY FROM HOME

Benfica’s away form has been very comparable to what they’ve done at the Estádio da Luz, with the exception of one less match on their travels.

Their only blemish came away to Boavista, in a very disappointing 3-0 defeat. Other than that, they’ve won all their other away Liga NOS matches – Famalicão (1-5), Rio Ave (0-3), Marítimo (1-2), and Gil Vicente most recently (0-2).

With the visitors in good form away from home, and the hosts struggling to find consistency on their home turf, what can we realistically expect?

HEAD TO HEAD

Both these sides have met 10 times in the league, with Benfica having the upperhand – 8 wins, 1 loss and 1 draw. Of course, who can forget that one loss last season.

EXPECTED STARTING XI

Odysseas is an automatic in between the sticks. For the defenders, Gilberto, Vertonghen and Grimaldo are likely, but the absences of Otamendi (five yellow cards), and Jardel (COVID), Ferro will likely get his chance to show himself to Jorge Jesus one more time. Todibo is available, but considering he hasn’t yet featured since his arrival, it would be extremely risky to start the Barcelona loanee in São Miguel. But then again, we do know Jorge Jesus has been known to try and pull a rabbit out of a hat occasionally.

In the midfield, I don’t see Jorge Jesus making changes from what we saw against Portimonense. And in the attack, seeing as Pizzi is available, and Luca’s drop in form, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him play behind Darwin.

Predicted XI: Odysseas, Gilberto, Ferro, Vertonghen, Grimaldo, Rafa, Taarabt, Weigl, Everton, Pizzi, Darwin.

PREDICTION

The month of January is going to be very demanding for this Benfica side. But before they can worry about some of their upcoming matches, they first need to get three points in São Miguel.

Santa Clara has only managed to score 10 goals in 11 matches, averaging less than one goal per match. From their last five in the league, they’ve scored only three, and conceded nine. On the contrary, Benfica has scored 10 from their last five league matches, while conceding six.

Taking into consideration that the hosts struggle to find the back of the net, and Benfica averages just over one goal against per match, that will give Santa Clara some hope.

Benfica need to continue their chase for first place, and playing after Sporting CP, it puts even more pressure to grab all three points. The difficulty here is trying to figure out which Benfica we will see on Sunday.

Will it be the team that played a great 30 or so minutes against Portimonense in the first half, or will it be the Benfica of the second half against Portimonense? I’m hopeful we will see the former, at least for enough of the match to take and hold the lead. It may not be the most entertaining performance, but I think we do find a way to come away with three points.

Santa Clara 0-2 Benfica