Santa Clara seek a third consecutive win to aid their survival bid, when they host Gil Vicente at Estadio de Sao Miguel on Saturday evening, in round 27 of the 2025-26 Primeira Liga season. The visitors travel to Ponta Delgada aiming to snap a four-game winless streak and reignite their fading hopes of securing European football. After going 11 league matches without a win between December 15 and March 1, Santa Clara dropped five places from 11th to 16th, leaving them staring down the barrel of relegation. However, Petit's men returned to winning ways with a 2-0 triumph over Vitoria de Guimaraes on March 8, and have since followed that up with a 1-0 victory over AFS to record consecutive league wins for the first time this season. With both Casa Pia and Nacional struggling of late, Os Acorianos' resurgence could hardly have come at a better time. They now sit 14th in the Primeira Liga table, three points clear of the relegation playoff spot and a further three points clear of automatic demotion to the Segunda Liga. Only six teams have conceded fewer goals than Santa Clara's 31 this term, so it is not far-fetched to attribute much of their struggle this season to a blunt attack, which has produced just 23 goals, averaging less than one per game. While Saturday’s hosts did lose 1-0 to Gil Vicente in November's reverse fixture, they had won the previous three meetings and will be confident of securing a positive result in front of their fans, having snapped a six-game winless run at home in their most recent outing. Gil Vicente entered a downward spiral at the end of 2025, with six matches without a victory, but four wins and a draw from their first six outings of 2026 quickly changed the mood. Now, with four points adrift of Braga in fourth despite having played a game more, Gil Vicente have little margin for error if they are to secure continental football next season, and anything less than three points this weekend would be a setback. With the injury of Matheus Araujo, who suffered a cruciate ligament injury and is not expected to feature again this season, Santa Clara will have to adapt. Meanwhile, Gabriel Silva, who scored the decisive winner against AVS, is out of the game due to an injury. On the other hand, Gil Vicente will have to deal with the suspension of Santiago Garcia and Ze Carlos, as well as the injuries of Mohamed Bamba and Jonathan Mutombo. Agustin Moreira, who opened his account for the visitors with two goals against Alverca, will be looking to continue his good form.