Liga NOS Matchday 26 Odds & Picks: Title Race Tied

Pacos de Ferreira are massive +750 underdogs ahead of their Friday visit to Sporting (-278), but will feel confident in their ability to engineer a result. Photo by @fcpf (Twitter)

• Portugal’s Liga NOS returned with a topsy-turvy vengeance over the past week, with goals, goalkeeping errors and upsets galore
• Benfica (-238) and Porto (-556) are tied for the league lead on 60 points, and are both heavy favorites on Matchday 26 against Portimonense (+640) away and Maritimo (+1250) at home respectively
• Get all the odds and best bets for Matchday 26 in Portugal below

It was a wild return to action for Liga NOS in Matchday 25, with the top four of Porto, Benfica, Braga and Sporting all dropping points en route to a collective 0-3-1 record last week.

At the bottom of the table, both Portimonense and Pacos Ferreira scored key victories and the gap between safety (currently held by the latter) and relegation (the former) remains six points.

Liga NOS Matchday 26 Odds

All odds taken June 8

Pick 1: Vitoria Setubal vs. Santa Clara

Working-class Vitoria Setubal (6-11-8) have bumped along as of late — scoring late to steal a 1-1 draw away to Maritimo last week — but initial aspirations of an outside shot at Europe have evaporated during a seven-game winless run (0-4-3).

Santa Clara (9-6-10) took advantage of a 64th-minute Braga dismissal to roar back for a 3-2 win on Friday, and a road result in Setubal could pull Joao Henriques’ squad closer to the top half of the table.

Wednesday’s visitors won their only previous trip to the Estadio do Bonfim, 2-0, back in December 2018, and are unbeaten (1-2-0) against Setubal in three meetings since returning to the top flight.

PICK: Santa Clara pk (-121)

Pick 2: Sporting Lisbon vs. Pacos Ferreira

The Ruben Amorim era at Sporting (13-4-8) is off to a passable start, with a 2-0 win vs. Aves pre-COVID and middling 2-2 draw at Guimaraes on Thursday leaving the Leoes three points back of third-place Braga in the league table.

Pacos (7-4-14) earned a wild 3-2 win at Rio Ave on Sunday, but will be playing on essentially half the rest of Sporting; manager Pepa has steered Pacos — which began the season 0-1-4 — to six points clear of 17th-place Portimonense in the relegation battle.

Quando maior parte das ligas ainda estão paradas e sabes que vais ter meio mundo a ver o teu jogo ✨

(via @vsports_pt) pic.twitter.com/o9qtSvUZom

— B24 (@B24PT) June 7, 2020

Expect the visitors to put up a valiant fight at the Alvalade in Matchday 26.

PICK: Pacos +1, 1.5 (-101)

Pick 3: Sporting Braga vs Boavista

A red card sunk Braga (14-4-7) on the road last week at Santa Clara, but manager Custodio admitted to the press this week that his team must be better in order to hang onto the league’s third-place, direct-to-Europa League position down the stretch.

Last week’s 1-0 home defeat against Moreirense was a microcosm of Boavista (7-8-10)’s season: one of the league’s worst offenses (19 GF, 17th-ranked) being kept vaguely in a match by Portugal’s third-best defensive record (24 GA).

Three of their past four meetings between Braga and Boavista have come in under 2.5, and their past 16 league meetings have seen an average of 2.1 total goals.

PICK: U 2.5 (-112)

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