Chapecoense vs Atletico Paranaese Predictions

Friday’s Brazilian Serie A action sees Chapecoense doing battle with Atletico PR. The hosts will be desperate to return to winning ways as they continue to battle against relegation.

Chapecoense came into the season looking one of the weaker teams on paper and have looked exactly that on the pitch in the action we’ve seen so far. Currently second bottom and 2 points adrift of safety, Verdao are in huge trouble and look like playing Serie B football next season, unless things improve massively in the coming weeks.

Chape have taken just 1 point from their last 5 matches but have had to deal with tough fixtures against the likes of Sao Paulo, Flamengo and Palmeiras, all of whom are in title contention and with 5 of their next 6 matches to come on home soil, they simply have to pick up a large points haul from that sequence if they are to survive, starting in this match.

Meanwhile, Atletico PR are also involved in the battle against the drop but don’t find themselves in quite as precarious a position, stationed 3 points above the bottom 4 in 14th place. Furacão put together a run of 4 consecutive wins to pull themselves somewhat clear of danger but find themselves in poor form once again now, having lost back to back matches over the last week.

Indeed, it wasn’t hard to see Atletico’s results declining after their winning streak, considering all of said victories came on home soil, where they are a real force, compared to the soft touch they’ve been all year on the road. The visitors have not won a single league match on their travels so far this season and having lost 7 of the 12 games contested over that streak, confidence cannot be high going into Friday’s game.

Ultimately, whilst it’s undeniable that Chapecoense have not been playing well in recent weeks, they’ve had some really tough matches and with this run of home matches to come, they may just well be able to pull themselves into survival contention.

77.2% of their points this season have been collected at the Arena Conda and having lost just once on home soil, it’s clear their issues are coming on the road. As such, when considering that in addition to Atletico PR’s atrocious away record, backing a home win in this clash looks the way to play and that’s where our money is going at more than reasonable odds.

It’s likely to be a tight match, given what’s a stake but we think Chape will come out fighting and will edge out an Atletico outfit that has shown very little resolve on the road via a 1-0 margin of victory.