Against All Odds: New managers, same old problems for Estoril

The sun isn't shining on Estoril at the moment

A defeat at Benfica was Estoril's fifth in a row, so with their odds trading below evens today, Paul Robinson is opposing them for the visit of Gil Vicente.

Estoril v Gil Vicente
Sunday March 8, 17:00 GMT

After finishing in fourth last season and qualifying for the Europa League, Estoril haven't been able to hit those heights this time around. With 23 games of the campaign completed, they are down in 12th in the Primeira Liga, out of both domestic cups and they exited Europe at the earliest stage possible.

Following a shaky start, things had been looking up for the Lisbon based club as they went on a run of one defeat in 10 league matches. February was an absolute disaster though as they lost five games in a row, with the 6-0 reverse last weekend being the final straw for the board as manager, Jos Couceiro was dismissed.

Assistant, Fabiano, and the recently retired, Hugo Leal, have been appointed as joint managers so it will be interesting to see how they cope in the first game in charge, but history suggests that two heads are rarely better than one.

Gil Vicente are struggling near the foot of the table but they are far from adrift of safety. They sit in 17th place, just one point behind Academica, and only four behind Boavista who are 13th. They may not seem like a sound proposition to get a result this evening, but it is worth noting that of all the teams in the bottom eight, only two have lost fewer games.

With nine draws already this term, only Academica have had more. Jos Mota's men are in the trouble they are in because they struggle to win, but avoiding defeat is all we need them to do today. That's something that they've achieved in five of their last half dozen outings, and even on the road it's three positive results in six, with two of the losses coming at Benfica and Sporting CP.

We were badly burnt yesterday by a team who were on a run of defeats but I'm not letting that put me off here as it's a sound selection. It's time to get some winners on the board and get back into the profit that we achieved in 2012, 2013 and 2014. That's why, with Estoril trading at around the 1.814/5 mark, I have to make them my lay of the day.

Recommended Bet
Lay Estoril v Gil Vicente @ 1.814/5

2015 P/L (1pt each bet)

Wagered: 65 pts
Returned: 50.97 pts
P/L: - 14.03 pts (after commission)
(2014 P/L: + 17.34 pts)
(2013 P/L: + 3.80 pts)
(2012 P/L: + 9.60 pts)