Jorge Jesus ahead of his side's hosting of Académica

"Of course Académica will want to win points in Alvalade, it is normal. We will face a team that will play the way they can and we will try to find as much space as we can", Affirmed Jorge Jesus in his pre-match press conference this Friday afternoon, ahead of what he expects to be a tricky hosting of Académica.

"It will be a hard game, but hopefully we will have the capacity to open up the Académica defence, which is our main objective on the way to getting the win", added the Sporting boss, going ton to draw similarities with results against Boavista, U. Madeira and Tondela: "You can find some reasons there, but nothing is that certain. If we look at each game individually and each team for where they are in the league, then it would be harder to face teams that are higher up the table, but that isn't the case in practice."

Accepting that Jefferson will miss out through injury, Jesus went on to speak about the recent arrivals of Sebastián Coates and Ruben Semedo, as well as the possible signing of a goalkeeper: "Coates has a few games under his belt with Sunderland, which means he is in shape. From that point of view there is no problem, but knowing how we play is different. He might take a while to adapt, but it will come with training. If everything is normal with Ruben in training tomorrow then he will be in the the squad. We really liked him in the pre-season and he has been developing well, which is why he is back. Marcelo is close to playing somewhere else, but nothing is true until he signs a contract. We aren't looking for a goalkeeper now, but who knows what can come up."

To finish, Jesus spoke about the possible suspension of Slimani: "It is something I won't say a lot about today, because he is focused on scoring and I don't want him reading something said by his coach. What I will say is that he is an excellent player who is fundamental for the team. He has developed a lot and he is in great form right now."

Sporting CP-Académica will get underway at 20h45 on Saturday, in Estádio José Alvalade.