Jokanovic's side looking to find form and escape the relegation zone

It hasn't exactly been a typical season for Nacional. The Madeira based team are generally comfortable in the middle of the table and have even on occasions pushed for a place on the European stage. However and despite currently sitting in 17th, with only Tondela to the rear, Jokanovic's Nacional are on the up and have lost only two in the last seven.

The arrival of Adriano Facchini, Filipe Gonçalves, Zequinha and Aristeguieta have brought in some extra depth to the squad and a recent 7-0 loss to FC Porto was a harsh reflection of the work Nacional have been putting in. Despite the improvement in form, Nacional have let in the second most goals in the league (29).

Down the other end of the pitch, Nacional can boast an impressive average of 12.1 efforts on goal (Sporting CP has an average of 12.7), although only 3.2 are on target.

Looking at Jokanovic's strengths and weaknesses ahead of Saturday's fixture, Nacional have only won once in league encounters in Alvalade (42, in 2005), making Sporting CP the understandable favourite to take away the three points.

The 48 year old Serbian actually players for Nacional, before going on to manage the youth team and senior team on two occasions before his current spell.

The experienced 34 year old made name for himself during four seasons with Gil Vicente. He has let in 13 goals in seven games, but that tally is reduced to 8 if we discount the seven against FC Porto.