THE PREDICTION
Maritimo come into this on the back of a 2-0 defeat away to Gil Vicente in their most recent outing, last weekend. The home team have lost five and won one of their last six matches as they begin this weekend’s round of fixtures sitting just inside the bottom three and the relegation playoff place. They now face a Benfica side that, under the management of Roger Schmidt, have been exceptional across all competitions throughout the 2022/23 campaign. The visitors’ 5-1 hammering of Club Brugge in the second-leg of their UEFA Champions League Round of 16 tie, to complete a 7-1 aggregate win, means they have now enjoyed five successive victories and are without defeat, inside 90 minutes, in their last 13 games. Benfica are the firm favourites for this one and it should be a comfortable victory.