- Benfica have won six, drawn two and lost two in their last 10 matches across all competitions.
- Académico Viseu have won four, drawn four and lost two of their last 10 across all competitions.
- Benfica have averaged 3.17 goals per game at home this season, scoring 19 goals on their own patch.
Benfica’s breadth and tempo can exploit a compact Viseu
It is an intriguing fixture on paper with Académico de Viseu back in the top-flight after 37 years and Benfica forced to stage the game behind closed doors in Portugal's capital. Marco Silva has turned Benfica into a flexible and flowing team that can play a possession-based 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 system with some cutting edge and pace in wide areas to exploit the space and the tempo to force teams onto the back foot and press hard.
Benfica bring a two-game winning streak into this clash and have been in dominant form at home in all competitions with four wins, one draw and one defeat in their last six at Estadio da Luz. Bruno Pinheiro is likely to set up Viseu to be compact and pragmatic, but he will know the hosts have enough tempo and width to stretch his backline at some point in the game.
Viseu can cause a few issues
Benfica are a clear favourite to win at 3/25 with the draw 69/10, so it seems obvious that the hosts should have enough quality to win this game. There is a little extra edge to this game with the visitors back in the big time, but the away team have been solid rather than spectacular with four draws and one win in their last five matches in all competitions (0-0 at home to Gil Vicente and 2-2 at Tondela). Viseu's away record in all competitions is also respectable with two wins, two draws and one loss from five trips and they have also scored 10 times in those games so they should be able to get on the counter attack at some stage in this clash. Under 2.5 goals in the match looks a good fit with the home side trying to dominate and Viseu trying to keep it cagey. Vangelis Pavlidis is Benfica's main man up top and the home team's goals have followed him around, but six of the last 14 have come in the last five games across all competitions so there are goals to be had.
