The sides in fourth and fifth place in the Primeira Liga table do battle on Wednesday, as Braga welcome Pacos de Ferreira to the Braga Municipal Stadium.

The hosts come into this game on the back of consecutive league defeats, while their opponents broke a five-game winless run with a 1-0 victory over Belenenses last time out.

Match preview

Braga suffered a disappointing defeat last time out, when they travelled to take on strugglers Maritimo last Thursday.

The game remained goalless for 75 minutes until Diederrick Joel Tagueu netted the winning goal for the hosts, despite Braga dominating the majority of the encounter.

That followed a narrow 1-0 defeat at home to Sporting Lisbon, which did not seem too disappointing for Carlos Carvalhal's side on the surface, but a deeper look suggests otherwise.

Os Arcebispos had a man advantage for the majority of the game as Sporting centre-back Goncalo Inacio was sent off in the 18th minute, but Carvalhal's men failed to take advantage of their dominance and the hosts would go on to snatch a winner in the final 10 minutes through Matheus Nunes.

As a result of their recent dip in form, Braga have fallen well behind the top three in the Primeira Liga, now sitting eight points behind third-placed Benfica with four games left to play.

That means Carvalhal's men will feel that they have to win all of their remaining four games if they are to stand a chance of breaking into the top three, starting with a return to winning ways against Pacos de Ferreira on Wednesday.

The visitors will come into this game with renewed confidence, having picked up their first victory in six games last time out against Belenenses.

The game looked set to finish goalless until Pacos de Ferreira won a penalty in the 85th minute, which Joao Pedro converted to seal the victory for his side in dramatic fashion.

That broke a run of five games without a win for Os Castores, having picked up just one point in that time while netting just one goal.

That poor run all but ended their hopes of a finish in the top four of the Portuguese top flight, as they now sit 10 points behind Wednesday's opponents with 12 points left to play for.

They will still be hopeful of putting back-to-back victories together though, as they look to keep their slim hopes alive with a win over their rivals for that spot.

Team News

Braga will come into this game without midfielder Ali Musrati, who will serve a suspension after he was shown his fifth yellow card of the season in the recent defeat to Maritimo.

In his absence, Fransergio will come back into the starting side after he was reduced to a substitute appearance last time out.

Meanwhile, young winger Iuri Medeiros will remain out of action through injury alongside centre-back David Carmo and full-back Francisco Moura.

Carvalhal has struggled to find a consistent forward line recently, with the likes of Andraz Sporar, Abel Ruiz, Lucas Piazon and Nicolas Gaitan all going through relative dry patches in front of goal.

Pacos de Ferreira winger Helder Ferreira will miss this game through suspension after he was shown a late red card in the victory over Belenenses.

They will also be without right-back Fernando Fonseca, who will serve a suspension after he picked up his fifth league yellow card of the season in that game.

In his absence, Ze Uilton may have to slot into the back four, with Joao Pedro potentially coming into the front three.

Braga possible starting lineup:
Matheus; Tormena, Rodrigues, Sequeira; Esgaio, Castro, Fransergio, Galeno; Gaitan, Sporar, Horta

Pacos de Ferreira possible starting lineup:
Jordi; Uilton, Marcelo, Gonzaga, Rebocho; Carlos, Eustaquio, Costa; Pedro, Tanque, Singh

We say: Braga 1-1 Pacos de Ferreira

Neither side come into this game in their best form, but we see Pacos de Ferreira's positive result last time out giving them the confidence to take a commendable point from the fourth-placed outfit on Wednesday.

Braga have hit their most inconsistent run of the season in the last month, and we would not be surprised to see them drop points again on Wednesday.