Rio Ave's road woes set to continue at Guimaraes

Primeira Liga
8.30pm Friday

Guimaraes may only be 40 minutes up the road, but any away day seems to bring out the worst in Rio Ave.

Miguel Cardoso’s men have lost their last five away matches and their last three all to nil.

They have scored only 13 goals in 14 away matches and look a blunt instrument going forward.

Fifth in the Primeira Liga – which is about as good as any mid-ranking Portuguese side can do – shows that Rio Ave are doing something right but they are well worth taking on at Guimaraes given their poor away form.

Guimaraes did the double over Rio Ave last season and have already won 1-0 in Vila de Conde.

That was back in November when all was well at the club. Seventh in the table and competing respectably in the Europa League (they beat Marseille at home), Pedro Martins and his team were doing fine.

Then the wheels started to loosen, Martins was fired and the end-of-term rebuild is on under Jose Peseiro.

Peseiro has picked up four points from four games, although one of those was a 2-0 defeat at leaders Benfica, so should not count against him.

Their two home games under the new management have yielded a 0-0 draw against Belenenses and a 2-1 win against Aves.

Keeper Douglas is back from a ban and top scorer Raphinha will return to the wing after cutting an isolated figure up top at Benfica where service to him was understandably minimal.

Recommendation
Guimaraes
1pt 13-10 BoyleSports

Match odds

Primeira Liga standings

Today's top sports betting stories

Follow us on Twitter @racingpostsport

Like us on Facebook RacingPostSport