Returning to league action after a midweek Europa League fixture, Benfica make the short trip across Lisbon to face Estrela Amadora in the sides' 11th Primeira Liga meeting.

The Tricolours' losing streak stretched to four matches last week as they suffered a 2-1 defeat to Moreirense, while Marco Silva's side recorded their seventh consecutive victory in all competitions after overcoming Lech Poznan 3-1 on Thursday evening.

Match preview

Estrela Amadora will be eager to end their poor run of form, which has seen them slip out of the top six and drop to 12th in the table following four consecutive defeats against Academico Viseu, Arouca, Casa Pia and, most recently, Moreirense.

However, Pepa's side did at least end a three-game run without scoring in their latest outing, with Lovro Zvonarek finding the net shortly before the hour mark.

Amid their struggles in the league, which have seen them go five matches without a victory in the Primeira Liga, Estrela did manage to secure progression to the next round of the Taca de Portugal, although they were made to work considerably harder than expected.

Despite being strong favourites to overcome fourth-tier Fazendense, the Tricolours were still level heading into the final 10 minutes before Tom Moustier scored his second goal of the game five minutes from time to prevent a potential cup upset. 

Pepa's men went unbeaten across their opening six league fixtures, picking up impressive results against Sporting Lisbon and Braga, but they now face one of the toughest challenges in Portuguese football as they prepare to welcome Benfica.

That challenge comes in the form of an Eagles side who make the short journey to Amadora with seven consecutive victories in all competitions behind them.

Since suffering a 3-1 defeat to Porto in the league, Silva's men have enjoyed an impressive run of results, thrashing Celtic in the Europa League, progressing comfortably in the cup and reducing the gap to the league leaders to five points.

Benfica have scored 20 goals across their last seven matches, finding the net at least four times on three occasions during that run.

Their attacking performances have also helped them record an 80% win rate in the Primeira Liga, with no side scoring more than their 27 goals, while only four teams have conceded fewer than their eight.

In the Europa League, Benfica made it four wins from four on Thursday evening, with goals from Rafa Silva, Gianluca Prestianni and Georgiy Sudakov securing a 3-1 victory over Lech Poznan and sending the Eagles to the top of the league-phase table.

Since Estrela secured promotion from Liga Portugal 2 in 2022-23, despite only being founded six years ago, the two sides have met regularly, but the Tricolours have ended up losing all nine encounters.

Estrela Amadora Primeira Liga form:

Estrela Amadora form (all competitions):

Benfica Primeira Liga form:

Benfica form (all competitions):

Team News

Estrela Amadora should be able to name an unchanged starting XI from the side that lost to Moreirense last weekend, although they remain without Robinho and Jeremy Arevalo.

Ianis Stoica is the club's leading scorer with four goals but has not found the net since September.

Despite his recent drought, the Romanian is expected to retain his place in the starting line-up.

Vangelis Pavlidis leads the Primeira Liga scoring charts with 10 goals in 10 appearances and, despite being an unused substitute in Benfica's most recent European fixture, is expected to return to the starting XI for this encounter.

Silva has regularly rotated goalkeepers Anatoliy Trubin and Samuel Soares throughout the campaign, with the former featuring in midweek but not in the league last weekend, although the Benfica boss could stick with the Ukrainian between the posts on Sunday

The former Hull City, Everton and Fulham manager will, however, be unable to call upon ex-Tottenham defender Clement Lenglet or Leandro Barreiro.

Estrela Amadora possible starting lineup:

Linck; Scholze, L. Patrick, Lekovic, Davin; Jansson, Serra; Marcus, Zvonarek, Stoica; Antonetti

Benfica possible starting lineup:

Soares; Bah, Araujo, Circati, Dahl; Sudakov, Palhinha; Silva, Prestianni, Schjelderup; Pavlidis

We say: Estrela Amadora 1-3 Benfica

With one of Europe's most prolific attacking sides facing a team that have failed to keep a clean sheet in any of their last 12 matches, we expect Benfica to have plenty of opportunities to find the net.

The Eagles have lost just once this season, and we back Silva's men to extend their winning run to eight matches on Sunday and secure a second 3-1 victory in the space of four days.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.