Rio Ave Vs Gil Vicente
Monday 9th December 2019 – 20:15 (kick-off)
Portuguese Primeira Liga
Pick: Under 2.5 Goals
Odds: 9/10
Bookmaker: Bet365
Portuguese Football Betting with 22Bet
(All betting odds displayed were correct as of 8th December 2019 at 16:00)
Preview: Some Portuguese Primeira Liga action for Monday as two teams positioned side-by-side in the league table meet at Estadio dos Arcos, the residence of Rio Ave who tackle an in-form Gil Vicente.
Rio Ave Preview – Home comforts to get them back on track?
Portugal is an incredibly tough environment when not part of the established ‘big four’ that, by now, everyone should be familiar with. One club who have done their utmost to compete outside of what is essentially a separate league in itself are Rio Ave (9th – W4 D3 L5, GF15 GA15), with league finishes of 6th, 7th, 5th and 7th, all in chronological order, in the past four seasons. This level of consistency should mean a more trustworthy proposition in the lesser fixtures.
One of these fixtures was certainly not last week’s encounter away to Sporting Braga. Facing players of requisite quality to recently qualify for the knockout stages of the Europa League, which is a competition Rio Ave are themselves striving towards competing in having achieved this feat for the first and only time in 2014-15, the team from northern Portugal were to come up short in a 2-0 defeat. A disappointing, but not all that surprising, result which leaves them five points shy of the European places.
That was a fifth defeat of the campaign for the Riovistas. Though three were to that aforementioned ‘big four’, and, perhaps tellingly, neither were in any way emphatic. It does, however, leave them toiling a little with only one win to their name in the last six league games (W1 D2 L3). That was at home – a scrappy 1-0 success against Vitoria Setubal – and where their record remains mixed (W2 D2 L2), but they have at least managed to score in every home fixture except the narrow 1-0 loss to FC Porto.
Gil Vicente Preview – Fourth win on the spin incoming?
Newly promoted to the Primeira Liga after four terms spent in Portugal’s lower league abyss, Gil Vicente (8th – W4 D4 L4, GF12 GA13) are already enjoying themselves far more this time around than on their previous foray at this level. That being 2014-15 when a meagre four victories were registered over the course of the entire season, something the current batch of players at the club have managed to match only twelve games into this season.
These efforts have been aided by some quite stunning form of late. Stunning in the fact that this team endured a miserable start consisting of one win in nine (W1 D4 L4) before embarking on a run of three consecutive victories over Maritimo (2-0), Aves (1-2) and Sporting CP (3-1). The latter not only the latest but unquestionably the most impressive and memorable of the bunch, dispatching of a team currently top of their group in the Europa League.
Positivity will surely be oozing through the camp on the back of these exploits, making them a dangerous proposition in a fixture they would otherwise be unexpected to take anything from. That being said, bookmakers still class them as significant outsiders, and for valid reasons: prior to winning 2-1 away to Aves earlier in the month, Gil Vicente had lost four out of four away from home, scoring only once across fixtures away to Benfica (2-0), Famalicao (2-1), Moreirense (3-0) and Santa Clara (1-0).
Rio Ave Vs Gil Vicente Key Facts:
- Rio Ave have won only one of the past six league fixtures (W1 D2 L3).
- Gil Vicente are currently enjoying a winning streak of three in league action, but would pick up points from just one of five away fixtures thus far (W1 L4).
- Back in the 2014-15 season, which was the last one to feature both these teams, their pair of meetings would fail to produce a single goal resulting in successive 0-0 draws.
Betting Summary
The recent form of Rio Ave (4/6 Boylesports) has been anything but compelling, with only one maximum haul registered in the past six encounters (W1 D2 L3). All three losses in this spell were to Benfica, Braga and Porto, though. Fixtures that were always going to be incredibly difficult getting anything from. Their record at home, meanwhile, is hardly inspiring (W2 D2 L2) but they did record a routine 1-0 victory against Vitoria Setubal last time out there.
Promoted outfit Gil Vicente (4/1 PaddyPower) endured a torrid start initially, winning one of their opening nine matches before somehow rolling off three straight wins. The latest a sensational 3-1 home victory against Sporting CP. Momentum is clearly with them then, although four defeats from five away outings is a huge negative, as is just three away goals scored thus far.
Neither are overly prolific, averaging close to a goal per game. Rio Ave’s last seven league contests produced no more than two match goals and although each of Gil Vicente’s latest two encounters breached the three goals or more mark, their figure of three away goals suggests a contribution from them is by no means assured.
