Reigning Brazilian Serie A champions Atletico Mineiro have heated up and will go for another win on Sunday against Sao Paolo.
These are two top sides and the opening goal will be vitally important. Bookmaker 10bet has the odds at 4.25 that we will see the first goal scored inside the first 10 minutes. The odds are at 14.00 for a late opening goal in the 81-90 minute.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: July 8th, 9:00 A.M. (EST)
Atletico have racked up three consecutive victories in the league and they are on a run of five wins in six games across all competitions. The team lost some serious ground early in the campaign, but they are now back in business and enter the weekend just two points adrift from league leaders Palmeiras.
Manager Antonio Mohamed relies heavily on experienced players and things have started to click for the well-traveled Argentinian. Brazilian veteran superstar Hulk is the biggest name in the squad and he’s proven lately that there’s still plenty of juice left in him at 35.
The former Porto and Zenit Saint Petersburg forward has scored in three of his last four appearances and boasts 19 goals with five assists in 27 games in total for the campaign. Sao Paulo have been fragile defensively all year and things could now get really ugly for them if Hulk is at the top of his game on Sunday.
Sao Paulo are a much younger team and that might explain their inconsistency. The league season started reasonably well for Rogerio Ceni’s men and the team even enjoyed a nine-game unbeaten run, but they have now gone win-less in three of their last four league outings ahead of this weekend’s trip to Mineirao.
Ceni has one of the league’s best scorers in his squad in Jonathan Calleri, but he’s gone cold lately and the team’s defense hasn’t been good enough to pick up wins on a regular basis. Sao Paulo have managed just three clean sheets in 15 league outings in 2022.
Sao Paulo’s offensive numbers in this particular match-up are very poor as well. They failed to score in both meetings against Atletico last year and road goals have become incredibly rare for Sao Paolo in this fixture as they have netted in just one of their last five away matches against Atletico.
Due to the scoring struggles, Sao Paulo haven’t beaten Atletico on the road since 2016. A big effort at both ends on the pitch is needed on Sunday to end the long win-less run.
