- Team form: Santos FC SP have won 3, drawn 1 and lost 1 of their last 5 matches, so they are on a two-match winning streak.
- Recent form: Mirassol FC have won 0, drawn 2 and lost 3 of their last 5, most recently being thrashed 1-5 at home by Flamengo in Serie A 2026.
Cuca’s Santos should be the cagey winners at home
Santos are in slightly better form than Mirassol going into this Serie A 2026 clash at Vila Belmiro on Sunday, although both clubs have had similar campaigns to date with Peixe 14th on 25 points from 22 matches and Leão 16th on 23. Cuca was appointed Santos' head coach on 20 March 2026 and the squad has taken a more pragmatic approach to matches since his arrival – as demonstrated by their two recent wins.
Last month's 2-1 home victory over Macará in the Copa Sudamericana Playoffs 2026 was followed by a 3-0 away smash and grab at Vasco da Gama in Serie A 2026, but it is the latter result which is most likely to have Mirassol concerned. The game should be a real contest of styles with Rafael Guanaes' men trying to win the ball high up the pitch and go vertical while the home side will look to manage the game and create space on the counter-attack. Mirassol have played a lot of high-tempo soccer with players swarming all over the ball, but they have João Victor as a finisher and Reinaldo as a creator.
Leão are a scrappy but unspectacular team
Team profile:
Mirassol are a busy team with compactness to their structure and have a real workhorse in Reinaldo, who has 3 assists in the last 5 goalscoring moves that have led to a goal. But they haven't played a team as good as Santos in terms of organisation and talent on their current scale.
Home advantage and key players:
The hosts have the players and the quality in Gabriel Barbosa, who has scored three of their ten goals in the last five matches, to make the most of any Mirassol errors, while they have won 5, drawn 3 and lost 4 of their home Serie A 2026 games to date. Santos have scored 17 goals in their 12 home games, so they can nick a couple of chances at Vila Belmiro.
Odds and head-to-head:
- The draw is 3.5 and Mirassol are priced at 3.9, which looks very tempting for a team that has won just 1, drawn 2 and lost 7 away from home in Serie A 2026, conceding 17 goals.
- Santos are the favorite at 1.9, but that seems a bit low when you consider the head-to-head record, which has seen Mirassol win 0, draw 2 and lose 1 in the last three meetings.
Free-kick specialists could help to settle a cagey clash
The reverse fixture in Serie A 2026, which ended 2-2 at Mirassol's ground, was a draw, but the visitors have improved a lot under Guanaes and look more likely to stop the bleeding in the head-to-head than get on the board. So we are going for a narrow home win and believe Under 2.5 goals, at 1.83, suits the cagey style both coaches are likely to adopt for this clash.
Mirassol's best finisher in recent weeks has been João Victor with 2 goals in the 4 the club has scored in the last 5 games, so we will take Santos to win 2-0 as our exact score prediction for this encounter.
