Velez Sarsfield can stretch their home unbeaten run to seven matches in the Argentine Primera Division when they welcome River Plate to Estadio Jose Amalfitani on Monday.
River, the league leaders, won their previous domestic encounter 2-1 over Platense, while El Fortin drew Rosario Central 0-0 a week ago.
Match preview
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The Primera leaders have not had much difficulty keeping their opponents off the scoresheet in league play, but for Velez Sarsfield they have not produced much in the attacking third lately, as they come into this encounter without a goal in three successive matches.
That quality was in abundance when Ricardo Gareca took charge in March, as his team scored eight goals in his first four matches at the helm, but they have only found the back of the net in one of their previous six games since.
Like in the second phase of this competition last year, they are near the bottom of the table in 24th with the second-fewest victories this season (three), winning just once away from home.
Defensively, however, this team have looked air tight on home soil, conceding in just one of their previous five league fixtures, posting three successive clean sheets.
El Fortin have never lost when scoring the opening goal this season, though that has not happened since March 21 when they blanked Central Cordoba 4-0.
Gareca likes to play with width and asks his fullbacks to do a lot of running throughout the 90 minutes, though they have at times been exposed in the latter stages of matches with that approach.
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To follow in the footsteps of a manager like Marcelo Gallardo, given everything he achieved with Los Millonarios, was no easy task, but Martin Demichelis has so far kept River on top, with 40 points from 17 league matches, five above San Lorenzo heading into this weekend.
They have not won a road contest since the middle of April but have looked unbeatable at home no matter who they face, winning six straight domestic matches at Estadio Monumental, with five clean sheets over that stretch.
River have conceded the second-fewest goals in the first phase of this competition (nine), while they have won all but one of their Primera fixtures this season when scoring first, with that lone defeat coming at the end of February versus Arsenal Sarandi (2-1).
From top to bottom, Los Millonarios have plenty of quality playmakers and dangerous finishers as eight players have netted multiple times domestically in 2023, and 10 have at least one goal involvement.
Aside from their recent struggles on the road, if there has been another sore spot for this team throughout the campaign, it could be their inability to defend against teams through the air, as they have not fared well in aerial duels all year.
They come into this encounter without a victory away from home versus Velez Sarsfield since 2019, when they earned a 2-1 triumph.
Team News
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Santiago Caseres, Juan Ignacio Mendez and Nicolas Garayalde are all expected to miss this match for Velez Sarsfield with ankle injuries.
Gaston Gomez has done well to keep his side in many of their recent matches, posting two clean sheets in his last four games between the sticks after replacing Leonardo Burian in their 0-0 draw versus Barracas Central.
Sarsfield are unbeaten in their last three meetings with River as Walter Bou and Abiel Osorio each netted in their previous encounter, Lucas Janson had the only goal when they won 1-0 in the round of 16 at the Copa Libertadores last season, while former keeper Lucas Hoyos made six stops when they drew 0-0 away to them in the second leg of that competition, allowing them to advance into the quarter-finals.
David Martinez and Emanuel Mammana should be return to the River Plate lineup in early June from a tendon and knee injury, respectively.
Goals from Miguel Borja and Ignacio Fernandez enabled them to edge past Platense in their previous domestic encounter, while an 84th-minute strike from Rodrigo Aliendro on Thursday gave them a 1-1 draw with Sporting Cristal at the Copa Libertadores.
In their previous meeting versus Sarsfield, Santiago Simon set up both River goals, scored by Lucas Beltran and Nicolas de la Cruz in a 2-2 draw.
Velez Sarsfield possible starting lineup:
Gomez; Guidara, Giannetti, Godin, Ortega; Ordonez, D. Fernandez; Lobato, Pratto, Janson; Bou
River Plate possible starting lineup:
Armani; Herrera, Rojas, P. Diaz, E. Diaz; Aliendro, Paradela; Barco, I. Fernandez, Palavecino; Borja
We say: Velez Sarsfield 0-2 River Plate
As good as Velez Sarsfield have been defensively at home, River have been far more consistent from one match to another and we expect their backline to be relatively comfortable containing an attack without much quality.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Joel Lefevre
