Brazil: Serie A betting tip: Fluminense- Parana
I have spoken of Fluminense several times this season as a team better than the league table suggests, I have offered a caveat in that it might just be that whenever I have seen them "live" they have upped their game, but that has been 5-6 occasions now and seems unlikely.
Earlier in the season I wrote a preview which covered two of their games which highlights all that ..........
They beat Palmeiras that day but have largely struggled since, they sit 12th this morning, a win could take them 9th, but they are only four points adrift of the drop zone, two of the teams below them won yesterday and it would be easy to find themselves in needless trouble should they slip up tonight. They picked up an unexpected point at leaders Sao Paulo last weekend, they were without players to injury /suspension and rested one or two others with this week in mind ( two home games, other is a derby and this will be "easier"), but SP were down to 10 men before the break and Flu got the bonus, it should have been all three points, they were denied by the woodwork twice and missed a host of good chances and played well , regardless of how many players they were facing.
Flu have largely dominated this series in recent years winning six of the last nine meetings in Rio with the last six having three or more goals, it hardly promises to be a shootout on paper, as Vitoria have scored just 6 in 10 starts, but they have shipped 28 in 11 aways outings and have a habit of letting away games run away from them once falling behind. They arrive without suspended midfielders Marcelo Meli and Neilton, the latter has 5 goals and 4 assists and is top contributor in each category and he has had a hand in 41% of all goals scored by the visitors. Flu will be much stronger today, this feels like a must win fixture and I expect them to take all three points with a degree of ease.