Argentinos Juniors aim to continue their unblemished home record in the Argentine Primera Division when they host Tigre at Estadio Diego Armando Maradona on Thursday.
Seven points and 17 places separate both clubs heading into the gameweek six encounter, and the winless visitors aim to get maximum points on board in the imminent round of games.
Match preview
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Five games into the new campaign and Argentinos Juniors are two places higher than they ended last season.
Pablo Guede's men are currently eighth in the standings, boosted by their form in Buenos Aires, where they have a 100% record.
El Bicho have defeated Rosario Central (3-2), River Plate (1-0) and Central Cordoba (2-1) in their matches in front of their supporters, and they seek a fourth straight triumph on home soil on Thursday.
Having suffered defeats in their road fixtures — losing to Racing Club (3-0) and Belgrano (1-0) — without finding the back of the net, Guede's side have unmistakably relied on their start at the Maradona for their top half ranking.
Continuing that run will be pivotal to climbing in the standings, with the hosts possibly rising to fourth if they win and results elsewhere go their way.
They are favourites to get the better of a Tigre side that enter round five without maximum points after five games.
El Matador have notched just two points from an available 15, seeing them stuck in 25th place after a winless start to the new season.
Having avoided a third straight loss in their recent fixture — a 1-1 stalemate with Belgrano — Sebastian Dominguez's men aim to secure maximum points for the first time this term.
Dominguez will hope his team scoring in both away matches this term stands them in good stead against a side who have let in three goals on their winning home run, securing one-goal margin victories.
However, the wider examination shows they have more pressing issues, conceding 10 times while scoring three at the other end, and they hope to find solutions in Buenos Aires.
Team News
The home side have a glut of expected injury absentees, with Santiago Montiel, Luciano Sanchez and Francis Mac Allister missing due to knee injuries, Jose Herrera, Matias Perello, Maximiliano Romero and Gaston Veron anticipated to miss out because of muscle issues and Franco Moyano is battling illness.
Alan Lescano (two) has scored 33% of Argentinos Juniors' home goals this term, and the midfield man seeks his third goal for the campaign.
While Tigre do not have as many absentees as their opponents, Juan Cruz Esquivel (knee), Nahuel Genez (hamstring), Pablo Adorno (groin) and Ijiel Protti (Achilles) are all anticipated to be absent.
Gonzalo Maroni has scored two of the away side's three goals this term, possibly making him the go-to guy as other forwards continue misfiring.
Argentinos Juniors possible starting lineup:
Rodriguez; Santamaria, Alvarez, Galvan, Prieto; Lescano, Rodriguez, Gomez; Viveros, Heredia, Oroz
Tigre possible starting lineup:
Zenobio; Ortega, Fernandez, Lomonaco, Marchese; Garay, Cardozo; Galvan, Maroni, Armoa; Contin
We say: Argentinos Juniors 2-1 Tigre
While Argentinos Juniors have notched victories in every home game this season, they have been far from convincing, underscored by the marginal wins.
That pattern is expected to continue in a potentially full-blooded match-up that has witnessed a sending-off in the past four fixtures, with the hosts eking out a slender win.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
