📏 Form Guide

Santos

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Santos will be wanting a better result here after the 1-0 Serie A defeat in their last game at the hands of Grêmio.

In that match, Santos managed 55% possession and 13 shots on goal with 1 of them on target. Gremio had 8 attempts on goal with 3 on target. Cristian Olivera (77') was the scorer for Grêmio.

It has been seldom in recent times that Santos have shown defensive steel. The facts show that Santos have been scored against in 5 of their previous 6 games, letting in 7 goals during that time. That sort of pattern isn’t assured to be continued into this match, though.

Heading into this fixture, Santos have not been beaten in the league by Ceará in their previous 2 games.

Ceará

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Ceará head into the meeting following on from a 1-0 Serie A win in the defeat of Vitoria in their most recent fixture.

In that game, Ceará had 50% possession and 18 attempts on goal with 8 of them on target. The only player to score for Ceará was Marllon (56'). On the other side, Vitoria had 12 shots at goal with 3 of them on target.

The numbers tell their own story, and Ceará have been scored against in 5 of their last 6 games, seeing opposing sides hit 6 goals in all. Defensively, Ceará have clearly had some problems.

Coming into this fixture, Ceará have not won away from home in their last 4 matches in the league.

🤜🤛 Head to head

Looking over their most recent head to head clashes dating back to 06/06/2021 shows us that Santos have won 3 of these games & Ceará 1, with the tally of drawn results standing at 2.

An aggregate of 9 goals were scored between them in these games, with 6 of them for Peixe and 3 netted by Vovô. That’s an average goals per game of 1.5.

The previous league fixture between these clubs was Serie B match day 33 on 22/10/2024 when the final score was Santos 1-0 Ceará.

In that match, Santos had 39% possession and 7 shots at goal with 4 on target. Their only player on the scoresheet was Diego Pituca (14').

Ceará had 13 attempts at goal with 4 of them on target.

🗞️ Team News: Santos

Zé Rafael (Vertebral injury), Souza (Injury to the ankle), Álvaro Barreal (Hamstring injury) and Guilherme (Hip flexor problems) won’t be able to feature for Santos gaffer Cléber Xavier.

We think that Peixe could opt for a 4-2-3-1 formation in the match, utilising Gabriel Brazão, Aderlan, Zé Ivaldo, Luan Peres, Gonzalo Escobar, Tomas Rincon, Gabriel Bontempo, Benjamín Rollheiser, Thaciano, Yeferson Soteldo and Tiquinho Soares.

📋 Team News: Ceará

Ceará manager Leo Condé has to contend with a number of unavailable players. Fernandinho (Shoulder injury), Aylon (Hamstring injury), Luiz Otávio (Torn knee ligaments), Bruno (Hip flexor problems), Richard (Achilles tendon rupture) and Richardson (Heel spur) are names that won’t be on the team sheet.

It’s our belief that Vovô could decide to elect for a 4-2-3-1 lineup with a starting lineup of Fernando Miguel, Fabiano, Marllon, Willian Machado, Matheus Bahia, Fernando Sobral, Dieguinho, Antonio Galeano, Lucas Mugni, Pedro Henrique and Pedro Raul.

⚡ Prediction

We believe that Santos will most probably convert a lot of goal-scoring opportunities.

In contrast, Ceará could well find it tough to score themselves although we do reckon that they could well end up pulling one back during this clash, too.

We can therefore see a comfortable 3-1 victory for Santos at the end of the match.

Victor Martins, 22:04 12/05/2025