Primeira Liga: What’s the state of play as Portuguese top-flight football returns?

While Porto and Benfica are likely to take the two Champions League spots, there are still three Europa League places up for grabs.

They’re currently occupied by Braga in third (46 points), Sporting CP in fourth (42 points) and Rio Ave in fifth (38 points). Guimaraes and Famalicao are both sitting on 37 points. They’ll be hoping a decent run of form secures European football.

Tomorrow night sees Guimaraes host Sporting in a crucial clash. A Guimaraes win (7/5) would see them move to within two points of Ruben Amorim’s side. But victory for Sporting (9/5) would allow the visitors to open up an eight-point gap between the two sides.

Braga (4/7) face Santa Clara (5/1)  on Friday, with Rio Ave (8/13) travelling to struggling Pacos de Ferreira (17/4) on Sunday.

Relegation battle

Portimonense and Desportivo Aves have been cut adrift at the bottom of the table. Sitting in 17th, Portimonense are six points behind Paco de Ferreira. Aves are three points further back at the bottom of the table.

Both sides will need to be much better in the coming weeks if they’re going to stay up. With that in mind, the break may work in their favour. Form isn’t so much of an issue when no one has played recently.

Our odds suggest Portimonense could start to turn things around tonight. They’re 5/4 to beat Gil Vicente (11/5), with 2/1 about the draw. They’ve only scored 16 goals this season though, the lowest total in the league – Under 1.5 Goals is a 17/10 shot.

Aves (19/10) will hope for a repeat of last season’s home win over Belenenses (31/20) when they meet on Friday.

View the latest football odds.

All odds and markets correct as of date of publication