Botafogo vs Athletico Paranaense Prediction: Lonely Star to extend unsuccessful streak

One of the matches to open round 19 of the Brazilian Serie A will be the encounter between Botafogo and Athletico Paranaense. Botafogo has big personnel problems, while AP has a three-match unbeaten streak. Despite this, the bookmakers are on the side of the Lonely Star in the pairing.

Botafogo

The lonely Star has a four-match losing streak. After beating Bragantino, a controversial kinda win, the team lost to Cuiaba, America, Atletico Mineiro and Santos. Remarkably, Botafogo did not score a single goal against the opponents during this period. This series led to the future hosts falling to 12th place in the championship standings. Though, the Lonely Star is still in the Copa Sudamericana zone. And Botafogo's home stats are bad, just 19th in the division, +2=1-5, 7-10 goal difference and four defeats in five last games.

Athletico Paranaense

After defeating Bahia in Copa do Brasil, Athletico Paranaense played two games in the Brazilian championship: a 0-0 draw with Internacional and a 4-1 defeat over Atletico GO. Before round 19 starts, Athletico Paranaense is in fifth place, has the same number of points as Fluminense, located in the Libertadores zone, but is inferior to the Tricolor on goal difference. The Red and Black have the sixth-best away statistics in the league, +4=1-4, 9-10 goal difference.

Head-to-head encounters

The teams have played each other 37 times in two tournaments, Serie A and Copa Sudamericana: +10=7-20, 39-50 in favor of Athletico-PR. In Serie A, the stats are +9=6-20, 36-48 in favor of the Red and Black. The teams played 19 times on Botafogo's field: +8=3-8, 24-24 in full parity.

Injuries and suspensions

• Botafogo: Carli, Del Piage, Diego Gonçalves, Kayque, Novaes de Ceixas, Victor Cuesta, Victor Sa, Carlinhos, Rafael will not play;
• Athletico Paranaense: Julimar, Christian, Marcelo, Pablo, Reinaldo will not play, Tomas Cuello and Vitor Roque are suspended.

Key stats

• The last five matches Botafogo played in Serie A saw less than three goals scored;
• Botafogo has not scored in the last three Serie A matches;
• Botafogo has lost the last three matches in the Brazilian championship;
• In the last three matches between Botafogo and Athletico-PR in all competitions, less than three goals were scored;
• Athletico-PR has gone undefeated in 11 of their last 12 matches in the Brazilian championship.

Expert Betting Tips

Both teams have personnel problems, but Botafogo has a performance problem as the Lonely Star has not scored in their last 4 games in all competitions. And given the density of games in this part of the season, the coaching staff of the home team has no time to bring the team to their senses. Moreover, there is a feeling that the resignation of Luis Castro, the former coach of Shakhtar Donetsk, is already overdue, perhaps the failure in Sunday's game will only accelerate that process. We bet on the guests in this duel and offer the following betting options:

H2 (+0.25) for 1.928 at 1xbet;

W2 for 3.30 at Bet365;

Correct Score 0-1 for 8.50 at 22bet.

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