Jorge Jesus reflects on another three points from what is traditionally a tough away fixture

Speaking with the press at the final whistle on Sunday, Jorge Jesus did not shy away from the difficulties felt by his side against a determined Arouca. "It is always difficult to win here", opened the Alvalade boss, continuing: "I have to point on three things: Firstly the win, second the fact that we are now seven games without losing and third that it is always hard to beat Arouca here. We were a bit slow in defence at the beginning, but the goal woke us up. We played some good football today, but another goal would have settled us a bit more. We had to hold on to possession because of that, but of course I am happy with the result."

Sporting CP score twice in two minutes to secure 10th straight win against Arouca

Sporting CP tallied a 10th straight win against Arouca this weekend, courtesy of goals from Alan Ruiz and Bruno César.

Jorge Jesus set his side out with its usual tactical shape, making just one change to the starting line-up with the introduction of Bruno César for Matheus Pereira. The encounter got off to a well disputed start, but with Sporting CP looking to take the initiative with Bryan Ruiz adding creativity to midfield along side William Carvalho. The first chance of the afternoon fell to Gelson after the skillful winger was picked out by Coates, but he was pushed off the ball in the 18-yard box for what could well have been given as a penalty.

Arouca responded in the ninth minute and actually struck from what was their first opportunity. Some determined play down the left finished with a cross from Vítor that Mateus headed into an empty net.

Unshaken by the goal, Sporting CP pushed forward and began building opportunities. First it was Bas Dost in the 27th minute with a header straight at Bolat, before Gelson fired a rocket of a shot that the Arouca keeper did well to turn away for a corner. On 32 minutes Bryan Ruiz picked out Bas Dost with a wire-guided pass, but once again Bolat was on hand to keep his team head.

Jesus' side continued to turn the screw and finally equalised in the 34th minute, when Alan Ruiz did well to control and drift into the box, before blasting a low shot into the bottom corner. Sporting CP could smell blood and just two minutes later the comeback was completed, when Bruno César blasted in from the edge of the box.

Arouca looked better after the break, relying mostly on the hard graft of Walter González in his efforts to get the better of Coates and Rúben Semedo. It was through the Paraguayan that Arouca came close to equalising, as he broke away at the half-way line and pulled a stop out of Rui Patrício on the hour-mark. Down the other end Sporting CP continued to look for space, but the final pass was lacking and some good build up play was left wanting on several occasions.

As the clock ticked down both coaches made their respective changes, with Jorge Leitão introducing the pace of Kuca and flare of Nuno Valente, while Jorge Jesus turned to João Palhinha to hold down the midfield.

With the exception of the break from González 15 minutes after the restart the second-half largely lacked clear chances. Gelson could have killed off the result late on, but Bolat was quick off his line to limit the damage to two.

Bruno César praises his side's control against a determined Arouca

"We let in an early goal, but we did well to come back. The heat didn't help, but in the second-half we controlled possession well and got the three points", said Bruno César at the final whistle on Sunday, after netting Sporting CP's second.

Questioned about the distance between Sporting CP and SL Benfica (8 points) and FC Porto (7 points), Bruno César proved relaxed: "Our objective was to win against Arouca, who are always hard to play against away, even though they are having a hard season. We are taking each game as it comes."

Squad list for Liga NOS matchday 27

Coach Jorge Jesus has announced his squad list for Sunday's 18h00 visit to Arouca.

Goalkeepers

Rui Patrício

Beto Pimparel

Defenders

Ezequiel Schelotto

Sebastián Coates

Rúben Semedo

Paulo Oliveira

Marvin Zeegelaar

Ricardo Esgaio

Midfielders

William Carvalho

João Palhinha

Bruno César

Bryan Ruiz

Matheus Pereira

Gelson Martins

Ryan Gauld

Forwards

Alan Ruiz

Bas Dost

Luc Castaignos

Daniel Podence

Jorge Jesus reaffirms his confidence in his youngsters against an unpredictable Arouca side

Speaking in his pre-match press conference this Saturday afternoon, coach Jorge Jesus guaranteed the continuation of his policy of giving time on the pitch to his young players, going on to explain the process behind the adaptation of Alvalade's latest generation of superstars: "I see the development of Matheus Pereira as the same as I am doing with Daniel Podence, Gelson Martins, Rúben Semedo, Ricardo Esgaio, João Palhinha and Francisco Geraldes. It is a strategy that we have built up based on the quality of the young players Sporting CP produces. If a team has quality young players then it has to be highlighted, which is what we are doing with Matheus. He played a few times last year, but we need to carefully control his development."

Arouca are the next Liga NOS challenge to Sporting CP's unbeaten run of six games, while the weekend's hosts have gone six without a win, resulting in the replacement of Manuel Machado for Jorge Leitão. "Arouca are looking to stay in the league and we have gone a few games without winning. We want to carry on putting the pressure on our rivals. All I can really do is look at Arouca individually, because technically I don't know as they are on their third coach this season. I don't know what will happen, but Arouca are a quality side. We will have to keep the pressure up", said Jesus, also touching on the return of players from international duty: "The lads who arrive hack now are always a bit tired and we have a few in that situation. We had a look at the squad on Friday and did a bit of work. The most important thing is that no one picked up an injury."

Jorge Jesus finished with his opinion of the transfer market and this weekend's encounter between SL Benfica and FC Porto: "If we could be sure that certain players would leave at the end of the season, then of course that effects the structure of the team, like it did last year. Last season Sporting CP lost three players who scored 55 goals between them: Slimani, João Mário and Teo Gutierrez. Maybe nobody remembers that. Developing players and then maybe losing them is part of the game, but of course I don't like it. However that is the reality for Portuguese teams...Honestly the result between Benfica and Porto doesn't matter, but it won't benefit us anyway."

Arouca vs. Sporting CP

When Arouca came back from the summer break, the fans' expectations were understandably high after beating Heracles in the Europa League and nobody expected such a tough campaign domestically. However, Arouca will come into the weekend's hosting of Sporting CP on the back of six straight loses, with Manuel Machado unable to claim a single point and the former youth team coach Jorge Leitão being drafted in.

Just six matches ago things were looking stable in the league, with Arouca in 10th place. However, now currently in 13th a tricky hosting of Sporting CP is on the cards.

Arouca have particularly struggled against the Liga NOS top-6, so far losing to FC Porto (0-3 and 4-0), Benfica (1-2 and 3-0) and Sporting CP (3-0). Arouca did manage to get a point out of Sp. Braga and went a step further with a win against Marítimo. History is on Sporting CP's side going into this one, with the team from Alvalade having tallied nine wins in nine encounters between the two. In the reverse fixture earlier in the season, Arouca managed just a single shot on target, along with 31% of possession.

The young forward has plenty of potential and has so far netted on five occasions this season. Dangerous on the break with his movement, González has also set up four goals for his teammates.

It is difficult to assess how Jorge Leitão will deal with his new role with the senior team, particularly having taken over following a series of six loses. Not a lot of changes should be expected for the hosting of Sporting CP this weekend.

Jorge Jesus pleased with the three points from his must changed side

Jorge Jesus proved happy with his side's 1-0 CTT Cup win against Arouca this Wednesday night, in a match which saw the Alvalade coach ring the changes.

"Every player in the squad is important and that is why we made the decision to give the lads a run out tonight. We achieved our objectives for this match and it was a really positive night for us. The intensity dropped off in the last 15 minutes and you could see that both sides were tired. We could have done better collectively at times, but that is part if the growth of any squad", opened the Sporting CP coach, adding a further analysis on his rotation: "When you have a squad of 25 players and you are in various competitions, you have to give the everyone a chance or risk losing motivation. We have never won the League Cup and honestly this competition should have a Europa League place for the winner, which would make it more competative."

Speaking about the apparently injury to Luc Castaignos, Jesus prefers to wait for the results of scans before commenting: "It was a shock with the goalkeeper and he hit his knee. Frederico Varandas, who is a great doctor, will look at him tomorrow. Castaignos looked like he was trying to avoid contact a bit an unfortunately and it resulted in not scoring and getting injured."

Alan Ruiz strike secures three points in CTT Cup opener

"Força Chapecoense", the chant spread around the Estádio José Alvalade in tribute to the Brazilian side after this week's tragic events in Colombia. There was no shortage of tributes to Marcelo Boeck too, who is currently on loan with Chapecoense but who did not travel with the team.

After a minute's silence, the game got off to roaring start, with Rui Sacramento slapping away a shot from Elias. Sancidino responded a minute later for Arouca, but hit shot finished up the wrong side of the post.

On 10 minutes Alan Ruiz tried to steer a free-kick towards goal, but to little success. Five minutes later Markovic charged forward with possession and eventually released Alan Ruiz, who had the vision to find Joel Campbell down the left flank. The Costa Rican threw a poisonous looking cross into the box, but Scramento comfortably brought the move to an end with a secure safe.

Again Arouca rallied down the other end almost instantly and Vitor managed to ghost his way past various players before being robbed of possession by Elias. A free-kick on the half-hour mark gave Douglas golden opportunity with an unmarked header, but his effort proved off target. Campbell fired another shot wide of the mark on 34 minutes and with one minute left before the break Crivellaro stole back possession and Vítor broke through on goal, only to be denied by Beto once again. If you don't put your goals away then you always run the risk of conceding and Alan Ruiz obliged with a brilliant touch into space and low placed shot seconds before the whistle.

André could have made it two shortly after the restart after a latching on to the rebound from a Petrovic header, but he drove his shot straight at the Arouca keeper. Risking more going forward in search of an equaliser, Arouca began to leave space at the back and Markovic made the most of it to start bombarding the visiting 18-yard box with venomous crosses. Castaignos really could have made it two with a quarter of an hour left, after an inch-perfect pass from Campbell, but in the end the solo strike from Ruiz proved enough to seal the points.

Jorge Jesus looking to set the pace in CTT Cup opener

Three games stand in between Sporting CP and a place in the CTT Cup knock-out stages. In Jorge Jesus' way are Varzim, Arouca and V. Setúbal and the Alvalade coach is looking to start off on the right foot this week against Lito Vidigal's team.

Sales information for coming two home fixtures

Sporting Clube de Portugal will begin ticket sales this Monday for two coming home fixtures (ticket offices open from 10h00 to 20h00) as follows:

CTT CUP - AROUCA | WEDNESDAY 30TH OF NOVEMBER AT 18H15

This match is not included in Gamebox packages. Tickets start at 3€ for Gamebox holders, 6€ for Club Members and 9€ for fans. Members need to have paid October fees to take advantage of discount prices. Only Stand A will be open for the match.

LIGA NOS - SETÚBAL | SATURDAY 3RD OF DECEMBER AT 18H15

Sporting CP vs Vitória FC, on Liga NOS matchday 12, is this season's Supporters' Club match. Tickets will only be available for the central stand, priced from 16€ for Club Members and from 22€ for fans. Members need to have paid November fees to take advantage of discount prices.