Porto vs Arouca Prediction & Betting Tips - Taca de Portugal

Prediction published on 10/01/2023, 13:30  by Devesh Jaganath in Football Predictions

We're reaching the business end of the Taca de Portugal, and in our featured match of the Round of 16, we will see the defending champions Porto take on Arouca at the Estádio Do Dragão on Friday night. Both sides have played two matches each in this tournament so far, and Porto has been particularly impressive already, recording a 6-1 win over Anadia in their opening match and following it up with a convincing 3-0 win over Mafra in the last round. These sides met just two weeks ago in a league fixture, which Porto won by a romping 5-1 scoreline. Porto is eleven points better off in the league than their opponents, with 33 points in 15 matches, after being held to a disappointing stalemate against Casa Pia last week. Porto will expect to get back to winning ways against an Arouca side that they have a massively superior record over as they look to qualify for yet another quarter-final in this competition. 

Arouca has been good this season and has ground out results that have kept them in contention for the European Cup places in the league. They are in 7th in Liga Portugal with 22 points, just five behind Casa Pia in fifth. Arouca has already seen off Fortinhas 2-0 and Gil Vicente 4-1 in this competition and comes into this match fresh off a win over Estoril Praia in the league last week. Their recent loss against Porto was the only one they've suffered in their last seven matches. Arouca's form away from home this season has been good, scoring in their last nine away games and conceding just two defeats along the way. They will be hoping to make a better fist of it in this fixture than a couple of weeks ago and will likely be content to take the match to extra time if they can.