Santos vs Guarani tips and predictions

Santos winning mentality makes them tough to beat

Santos are currently in third place as they prepare to host 19th place Guarani.

It's difficult to see beyond a home win but their short price is nothing to get excited about. Nevertheless, Guarani are up against it.

The advantages are certainly with Santos. They're in much better form. The hosts have reached 12 wins in 18 matches. Having lesser fortunes than expected, the travelling side has lost 10 of their last 16 matches. They will struggle here too.

The home defence has been solid. It's likely they'll maintain a clean sheet in this match-up; they are only conceding an average of 0.7 goals over their last 15 games. At times the visitors have looked underwhelming. They've been goalless in 10 of their last 12 away matches. But while the stats don't give them huge confidence in front of goal they will surely have made improvements for this match. They'll need to have the answers to a lot of questions regardless of the squad they line up with on the day.

The head-to-head looks good for the hosts. Santos have won 7 of the last 9 fixtures between the two teams.

Some previews are expecting one of these sides to park the bus due to the favouritism for Santos. The No BTTS could be prudent.