Jorge Jesus on his side's current form head of visit to Paços de Ferreira

Jorge Jesus sat down with the press this Friday afternoon to share his thoughts in the build up to Liga NOS matchday 19, which will see Sporting travel to Paços de Ferreira.

“Playing in Mata Real is never easy, it is always complicated here. We will be facing a good team who are set up well and who are having a good season. We are in first and we want to defend that. We are starting the second half of the season now and we want to win. We are capable of doing that, but we have to be humble about it and recognise that Paços are a good team", opened the Sporting coach, before revealing that while Gelson Martins and Adrien did not train during the week, they could still feature.

“We are in first and our two main rivals are behind us, one by five points and the other by two. We don't know how the second half of the season will go, but we know that we only few two and lost one in the first half. We won 86% of the points that we could have", added Jesus, before answering to a question about his team having conceded the least number of goals in the league: "It is a safety net for us and I hope that carries on. We have confidence in our defence and the numbers show that we are on the right track. The whole team is responsible for defending and we have been organising ourselves well."

The Alvalade boss went on to speak about William's current form, as well as the January transfer market: "William was out for three months. He is looking to find his way and we are happy with what he has been doing. Maybe he hasn't shown what he is capable of yet, but he helps out in defence as well. This is a tough time for a lot of teams, Sporting included, because players are moving around. However we are used to being connected with a lot of players. Some names are being brought up that everybody knows we don't have the capacity to bring in. We know who we want and we already have them."

P. Ferreira-Sporting will get underway at 20h45 on Saturday, in Estádio Capital do Móvel, Paços de Ferreira.