National cups are something special for many teams and supporters. Today's match will decide whether it's Arouca or Sporting CP that keep their silverware dream alive.
It's no vacation for neither Arouca nor Sporting CP as both were in action only a few days ago. Expect some tired legs on the pitch and/or possibly some changes to the lineups.
Arouca form and stats
Arouca was eliminated in the 2nd round last season in the League Cup.Arouca have played 9 Liga Portugal games at their own stadium so far this season, resulting in 5-1-3 (wins-draws-losses).
Arouca's last game was hosting Portimonense and winning 4-0. As mentioned above, Arouca "killed" Portimonense in their previous game. They need to reset completely for this one and beware of complacency. Midfielder Ruiz was the best player on the team with a rating of 8.8 (out of ten) in that game. Ruiz scored one goal, served one assist, hit two key passes, dribled past the opponent 2 of 3 times and had 38 successful passes (of 44 total).
A 1-1 draw away in the Liga Portugal before that, with Chaves the opponent.A decent goal production from Arouca in their home games so far, with 15 goals from 9 league matches. 12 goals have been conceded.
Sporting CP form and stats
Nothing but glory last season for Sporting CP, as they won the League Cup.The story so far for the visiting team on their Liga Portugal travels is 3 wins, 2 draws and 4 defeats.
Sporting CP are travelling after their nice 2-1 home win in the match against Vizela. Late drama in the previous game, when Porro scored the winning goal five minutes into stoppage time to defeat Vizela. Midfielder Porro was the best performer of that match, with a rating of 9.73. Porro scored one goal, served one assist, hit eight key passes and dribled past the opponent 3 of 4 times.
Ahead of that match was the Liga Portugal away draw versus Benfica that ended 2-2.Sporting CP have scored 12 goals on their travels this season, from 9 away games in the league. As for defending, Sporting CP rarely keep clean sheets as they have conceded 14 goals from these away matches.
Head 2 Head
Arouca-Sporting CP H2H statistics last ten meetings regardless of arena: Arouca one win, Sporting CP nine wins, zero draws. five of these ten matches had three or more goals (over 2,5). The matches between these sides have sometimes been a bit rough, having seen 6 sending-offs from the last ten duels.
Top Goalscorers
  P. Pereira Gonçalves 9 goals |   O. Dabbagh 6 goals |  N. Gomes dos Santos 5 goals |
Arouca missing players
Sporting CP missing players
| Arouca | Sporting CP | ||||||
| Total | Home | Statistics | Stat | Away | Total | ||
| 25 | 11 | Played | P | 12 | 25 | ||
| 12 | 5 | Won | W | 5 | 15 | ||
| 7 | 3 | Drew | D | 2 | 2 | ||
| 6 | 3 | Lost | L | 5 | 8 | ||
| 37 | 17 | Scored | S | 16 | 53 | ||
| 34 | 14 | Conceded | C | 14 | 23 | ||
| 96% | 100% | Over 0.5 | O 0.5 | 100% | 100% | ||
| 80% | 73% | Over 1.5 | O 1.5 | 75% | 88% | ||
| 52% | 45% | Over 2.5 | O 2.5 | 50% | 64% | ||
| 32% | 36% | Over 3.5 | O 3.5 | 17% | 32% | ||
| 16% | 18% | Over 4.5 | O 4.5 | 8% | 16% | ||
| 52% | 45% | BTTS | BTTS | 50% | 40% | ||
| 32% | 36% | Clean Sheets | C S | 25% | 40% | ||
| 20% | 18% | Failed to Score | F T | 25% | 20% | ||
| 3.8 | 4 | Corners for (avg) | C F | 6.6 | 6.3 | ||
| 5 | 5.3 | Corners against (avg) | C A | 3.8 | 3.8 | ||
| 2.6 | 2.9 | Yellow cards (avg) | Y C | 3.6 | 3.1 | ||
| 7 | 3 | Red cards | R C | 1 | 4 | ||
| 10.4 | 11.1 | Shots (avg) | S ( | 13.8 | 14.6 | ||
| 4.2 | 4.9 | Shots on Target (avg) | S O | 4.6 | 5.4 | ||
| 35% | 31% | Goal Efficiency | G E | 29% | 39% | ||
| 12.7 | 11.1 | Shots against (avg) | S A | 10.6 | 9.2 | ||
| 4.6 | 4.3 | Shots on Target against (avg) | S O | 4 | 3.4 | ||
| Total | Home | Away | |||||||||||||||||||
| # | Team | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | +/- | P |
| 1 | Benfica | 17 | 14 | 2 | 1 | 43 | 12 | 9 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 29 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 14 | 4 | 31 | 44 |
| 2 | Sporting Braga | 17 | 13 | 1 | 3 | 39 | 13 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 15 | 5 | 9 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 24 | 8 | 26 | 40 |
| 3 | Porto | 17 | 12 | 3 | 2 | 41 | 11 | 8 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 28 | 5 | 9 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 13 | 6 | 30 | 39 |
| 4 | Sporting CP | 17 | 10 | 2 | 5 | 33 | 19 | 8 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 21 | 5 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 12 | 14 | 14 | 32 |
| 5 | Casa Pia | 17 | 8 | 3 | 6 | 16 | 16 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 9 | 0 | 27 |
| 6 | Arouca | 17 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 22 | 25 | 9 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 15 | 12 | 8 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 7 | 13 | -3 | 26 |
| 7 | Vitoria Guimaraes | 17 | 7 | 3 | 7 | 15 | 19 | 9 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 6 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 13 | -4 | 24 |
| 8 | Vizela | 17 | 6 | 3 | 8 | 19 | 17 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 9 | 6 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 10 | 11 | 2 | 21 |
| 9 | Chaves | 16 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 15 | 20 | 8 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 12 | -5 | 21 |
| 10 | Rio Ave | 16 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 17 | 20 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 7 | 8 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 8 | 13 | -3 | 20 |
| 11 | Portimonense | 17 | 6 | 2 | 9 | 13 | 21 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 9 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 6 | 12 | -8 | 20 |
| 12 | Boavista | 15 | 6 | 2 | 7 | 15 | 24 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 12 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 12 | -9 | 20 |
| 13 | Estoril | 16 | 5 | 4 | 7 | 16 | 21 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 12 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 9 | -5 | 19 |
| 14 | Gil Vicente | 17 | 5 | 3 | 9 | 17 | 24 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 9 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 10 | 15 | -7 | 18 |
| 15 | Famalicao | 16 | 5 | 2 | 9 | 16 | 23 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 8 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 15 | -7 | 17 |
| 16 | Santa Clara | 17 | 3 | 5 | 9 | 11 | 21 | 9 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 9 | 15 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 6 | -10 | 14 |
| 17 | Maritimo | 17 | 3 | 4 | 10 | 11 | 31 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 23 | -20 | 13 |
| 18 | Paços de Ferreira | 17 | 1 | 3 | 13 | 10 | 32 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 17 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 15 | -22 | 6 |
