Perhaps a welcome break from league football as Santa Clara & Arouca face off to decide who makes it to next stage of the League Cup. All the pre-match information is available here!
Santa Clara and Arouca should both be in good shape for this meeting, as there's been enough days for both of them to train and rest since their last matches.
Santa Clara form and stats
Santa Clara participated in League Cup the last season, where they reached the semi-finals.The story so far in the Liga Portugal for Santa Clara at their home stadium (Estádio de São Miguel) is 2 wins, 3 draws and 2 defeats.
The regulars hope that Santa will fight back in this match, putting things right after the 3-4 away defeat in the League Cup fixture against Feirense.
A 1-1 result against UD Oliveirense before that one, played at their own home stadium in the League Cup. This is expected to be a close game, with Santa Clara perhaps considered small favourites due to their home advantage. Looking back at earlier matches similar to this one (expected to be close with Santa Clara as a small favourite), we find 9 games. Santa Clara has won 7 of these, drawn 0 and lost 2.
Santa Clara are certainly not overdoing their scoring at home in league matches, having created 9 goals in 7 games. Santa's goalkeeper has had to pick the ball out of their own net 8 times. For more goal stats, check the Statistics tab above.
Arouca form and stats
Arouca was sent out of League Cup in the 2nd round last season.2 wins, 3 draws and 1 loss. That’s the product of Arouca playing as the away team in the Liga Portugal this season.
Two away matches in a row for Arouca, whose manager Freitas could celebrate last time after the League Cup win against UD Oliveirense.
Ahead of that, 1-1 at home hosting Leixões in the League Cup. So, this is expected to be a close game, an even contest. Looking at earlier matches with Arouca playing away and similar expectations, we found 7 relevant matches. Results were 3 Arouca wins, 4 draws and 0 defeats.
The attacking power of Arouca when travelling is not overwhelming with 5 goals scored from 6 league matches away. As opposed to that, Arouca have seen the ball go into their own net 7 times on the road.
Head 2 Head
As for the last ten games between these two teams, there's three Santa victories, three draws and four Arouca wins. Over/under statistics; four of these games ended with three goals or more, six matches with two goals or less. The matches between these sides sometimes lean towards being a bit rough, having seen 6 red cards from the last ten encounters.
Top Goalscorers
  Antony 3 goals | R. Mújica 3 goals |  K. Boateng 2 goals |
Santa Clara missing players
Arouca missing players
| Santa Clara | Arouca | ||||||
| Total | Home | Statistics | Stat | Away | Total | ||
| 25 | 8 | Played | P | 12 | 25 | ||
| 5 | 2 | Won | W | 5 | 10 | ||
| 7 | 4 | Drew | D | 3 | 8 | ||
| 13 | 2 | Lost | L | 4 | 7 | ||
| 26 | 10 | Scored | S | 17 | 30 | ||
| 36 | 9 | Conceded | C | 14 | 28 | ||
| 88% | 88% | Over 0.5 | O 0.5 | 92% | 88% | ||
| 64% | 88% | Over 1.5 | O 1.5 | 75% | 60% | ||
| 40% | 50% | Over 2.5 | O 2.5 | 50% | 40% | ||
| 16% | 12% | Over 3.5 | O 3.5 | 25% | 24% | ||
| 8% | 0% | Over 4.5 | O 4.5 | 17% | 16% | ||
| 52% | 88% | BTTS | BTTS | 50% | 44% | ||
| 20% | 12% | Clean Sheets | C S | 33% | 40% | ||
| 40% | 12% | Failed to Score | F T | 25% | 28% | ||
| 4.3 | 4.6 | Corners for (avg) | C F | 3.4 | 4.1 | ||
| 4.8 | 5.4 | Corners against (avg) | C A | 4.9 | 4.9 | ||
| 2.8 | 2.9 | Yellow cards (avg) | Y C | 2.3 | 2.6 | ||
| 6 | 1 | Red cards | R C | 1 | 4 | ||
| 9.1 | 9.8 | Shots (avg) | S ( | 10.5 | 10.8 | ||
| 3 | 4.4 | Shots on Target (avg) | S O | 3.6 | 3.8 | ||
| 29% | 29% | Goal Efficiency | G E | 38% | 31% | ||
| 11 | 11.4 | Shots against (avg) | S A | 13.4 | 12 | ||
| 3.3 | 2.6 | Shots on Target against (avg) | S O | 3.7 | 4.1 | ||
| Total | Home | Away | |||||||||||||||||||
| # | Team | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | +/- | P |
| 1 | Leixões | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 |
| 2 | Feirense | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| 3 | Arouca | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 5 |
| 4 | UD Oliveirense | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | -4 | 2 |
| 5 | Santa Clara | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 6 | -2 | 1 |
| 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 | 13 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 37 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 26 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 11 | 1 | 30 | 37 |
| 2 | Porto | 13 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 31 | 9 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 19 | 3 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 12 | 6 | 22 | 29 |
| 3 | Sporting Braga | 13 | 9 | 1 | 3 | 29 | 12 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 11 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 18 | 7 | 17 | 28 |
| 4 | Sporting CP | 13 | 8 | 1 | 4 | 26 | 15 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 16 | 4 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 10 | 11 | 11 | 25 |
| 5 | Casa Pia | 13 | 7 | 2 | 4 | 13 | 10 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 6 | 3 | 23 |
| 6 | Vitoria Guimaraes | 13 | 7 | 2 | 4 | 14 | 13 | 7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 1 | 23 |
| 7 | Portimonense | 13 | 6 | 1 | 6 | 12 | 14 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 7 | -2 | 19 |
| 8 | Chaves | 13 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 13 | 16 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 11 | -3 | 19 |
| 9 | Arouca | 13 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 14 | 19 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 7 | -5 | 19 |
| 10 | Rio Ave | 13 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 16 | 18 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 5 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 8 | 13 | -2 | 18 |
| 11 | Boavista | 13 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 14 | 23 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 11 | -9 | 17 |
| 12 | Estoril | 13 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 14 | 18 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 12 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 6 | -4 | 16 |
| 13 | Vizela | 13 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 11 | 13 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 7 | -2 | 15 |
| 14 | Santa Clara | 13 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 11 | 13 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 9 | 8 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 5 | -2 | 13 |
| 15 | Famalicao | 13 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 11 | 18 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 11 | -7 | 11 |
| 16 | Gil Vicente | 13 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 11 | 21 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 13 | -10 | 9 |
| 17 | Maritimo | 13 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 8 | 27 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 19 | -19 | 6 |
| 18 | Pacos de Ferreira | 13 | 0 | 2 | 11 | 7 | 26 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 3 | 14 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 12 | -19 | 2 |
