• Benfica
• Primeira Liga,
• Sporting,
• FC Porto,
• Sporting de Braga,
• Desportivo das Aves,
• Estoril

Braga's form has been slept on for sometime now but, with Benfica coming to town defending just a three-point-advantage over the fourth-placed side, here stood the chance for 'the Arsenalistas' to gain some much-deserved recognition for their campaign thus far. It didn't work out that way for the northerners, however, as a Benfica side, led by goals from Eduardo Salvio, Jonas and Raúl Jiménez , maintained their excellent form to side-step Braga with a 3-1 victory, as the Eagles neared Sporting in the table.

That was until another hat-trick from Bas Dost set the Lions back off into the distance with a 3-0 home win over Desportivo das Aves, claiming top-spot in the Primeira Liga for the time being.

The two Lisbon outfits then awaited the conclusion of Estoril's clash with league leaders FC Porto last night. The bottom-of-the-table side led 1-0 before the game was abandoned at half-time due to the structural instability of one of the stands. PortuGOAL takes you through the events of Matchday 18.

After achieving hegemony in Portuguese football (16 championship titles in 22 seasons) and prospering in Europe, FC Porto’s domestic domination and international successes abruptly ended in 2013-14. Four long seasons without a trophy, financial meltdown and a series of failed managerial appointments seemed to have marked a definitive shift in the Portuguese football landscape.

Curiously, all the coaches who occupied the hot seat at the Estádio do Dragão during the barren spell went on to achieve considerable success elsewhere after being “let go” by club supremo Pinto da Costa: Paulo Fonseca at Shakhtar Donetsk, Luís Castro at Rio Ave and Chaves, Julen Lopetegui as Spain coach, Nuno Espírito Santo at Wolves. The clear suggestion was that the problems at the club ran much deeper than the occupant of the dugout.

Then Sérgio Conceição was appointed. The fiery former Porto favourite had enjoyed a successful managerial career, but nobody quite expected the phenomenal impact he has had on the northern outfit. Porto are unbeaten and top of the league, into the semi-finals of both domestic cups, into the last 16 of the Champions League, all the while playing high-intensity non-stop attacking football. Simon Curtis looks at the rise of Sérgio Conceição.

Great news for fans of Portuguese football living in the United Kingdom!

FreeSports is a new TV channel launched in the UK in September 2017 showing up to 10 live football games every week for FREE.

The channel shows live Portuguese football matches every weekend. Tomorrow 13 January the channel will be airing the game of Round 18, Sporting Braga vs Benfica, which kicks off at 8.30pm.

Liga NOS 2017/18 is at the halfway point and ‘Os Três Grandes’ are dominating proceedings as is the custom.

Porto, Benfica and Sporting gather most of the headlines but there have been no shortage of extremely talented performers from the sides below them, who are well worth highlighting in their own right.

The following team of the season excludes players from the aforementioned trio, and PortuGOAL believes this hypothetical XI would give any of The Big Three a run for their money. Do you agree with Jamie Farr’s selection?