Football Bet of the Day: Sporting won't give Rio Ave a chance

Sporting Lisbon v Rio Ave
Friday 18:30 (Live on FreeSports)

In the Netherlands last night, Willem II and FC Groningen left it late, but they came through for us in the end. Goalless at half-time, the match ended up 3-2 to the visitors to land our goals bet with a flourish.

We've come to Portugal today for the Primeira Liga match between league leaders Sporting Lisbon and 10th-placed Rio Ave. The visitors have been struggling for goals recently and we fancy the hosts to shut them down this evening.

Sporting are four points clear of old rivals Porto and Benfica at the top, and have the league's best defence (eight goals conceded in 13 matches so far). Since an opening draw with Porto, Ruben Amorim's men have won 5/5 at Jose Alvalade Stadium, while conceding just twice. Since Amorim took charge midway through last season, the Lions have managed eight clean sheets in 12 appearances on home turf.

Rio Ave sprung a surprise in winning this fixture 3-2 last season. They failed to score at the Jose Alvalade in the three campaigns before that. This term, Mario Silva's men have scored only nine times through the first 13 rounds of the season - only one team in the league has been less potent. They have struck three times on seven road trips so far, failing to score at all in any of the last four. Most recently, they've lost 0-3 at fourth-placed Braga and 0-2 at fifth-placed Pacos Ferreira. Against the table toppers tonight, we like the price on them to lose to nil once more.