Benfica vs Estrela Amadora Predictions

• Benfica have won four of their last five home league games with a clean sheet
• Estrela failed to score in two of their last three away league contests
• Estrela lost 2-0 at Benfica almost a year to the week last season

Benfica and Estrela in similar straights

Benfica beat Estrela Amadora 2-0 when they met at virtually the same stage of last year’s Primeira Liga and a repeat of that scoreline may be on the cards again this year.

Estrela don’t appear to have kicked on from their debut campaign in the Portuguese top flight and lost 3-0 at home to Famalicao last weekend.

Benfica lost to the same club in the opening fixture of the campaign to suggest they are still some way off closing the gap to champions Sporting.

Injuries costing Schmidt some of his better options

Roger Schmidt has got a long list of absentees to contend with at the moment with goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin recovering from a sprained ankle, and both André Gomes and Angel Di María out with similar problems. Andreas Schjelderup and Benjamín Rollheiser continue to rehabilitate from the injuries they sustained in pre-season.

The Eagles did look better in defence in last weekend’s 3-0 home win over Casa Pia, but the result remained in doubt until the 80th minute when they grabbed their second goal.

Backing Benfica to win to nil looks like a solid strategy given Estrela’s struggles against Fama, where they produced only one shot on target.