Portimonense v Sporting Lisbon Betting Tips [7 May 2022]

The Portuguese Primeira Liga heads into the final two fixtures this weekend when second place Sporting CP head to Portimao to take on 12th place Portimonense. While Sporting are still mathematically alive in the title race, it would require a sequence of extremely bizarre results for the Lions to defend their league crown. Sporting trail rivals Porto by six points in the table with only two matches left to play. The problem for Ruben Amorim’s side is the goal differential disadvantage for his team – Sporting have a +45 goal differential while Porto hold a +61 goal differential. The final two results would need to be a combination of both historically bad losses for Porto and equally massive blowout wins for Sporting for the Dragons to relinquish their stranglehold on their 30th league title. They come up against a Portimonense side that has secured its position in the top division for the next campaign with 35 points and an eight point lead over the relegation zone.

Although it looks likely that Sporting will finish as runners-up in the league, that shouldn’t take away from their strong domestic performance. The visitors are on an excellent run and have won back-to-back matches by a 7-1 goal margin as well as seven wins in their last eight in the Primeira Liga. Perhaps Sporting’s strongest aspect this season has been their ironclad defense. The Lions have allowed the fewest goals in the league at 21 and have kept a league leading 17 clean sheets, albeit with only six coming away from home. They shouldn’t be too threatened by a Portimonense side that are the league’s second-lowest scoring team, only knocking in 28 goals from their 32 matches. Combined with the fact that Portimonense have actually performed better when playing away from home this season – 16 points from the home matches compared to 18 points on the road – it’s hard to see past anything other than a comfortable Sporting win.

We’re going to back Sporting CP on the -1 Asian Handicap as our bet for this one. We don’t mind paying the extra juice for the push protection this provides if Sporting win by just a single goal. They’ve been excellent this season at putting teams to the sword and have won 18 of their 25 league victories by a margin of at least two goals. The hosts will struggle to get on the scoresheet against this imposing Sporting defense and the visitors should be able to knock in at least two goals with the good goal scoring form that they are in.