Banfield – Estudiantes de Rio Cuarto
Banfield’s concerns deepened on Thursday night, as they were outplayed and fell to a 1-0 defeat away at Sarmiento — one of their most direct rivals in the battle to avoid relegation. Amid an ongoing institutional crisis that has left them, among other issues, as the only club without any new signings, El Taladro have collected just one point from the first two rounds of the Torneo Apertura and are now four league matches without a win (two draws and two losses), sitting 27th in the relegation averages for the time being. Estudiantes Río Cuarto enjoyed a slice of good fortune on Thursday night, when they held Argentinos Juniors to a goalless draw at home in a match where they were largely outplayed and also faced a late penalty in stoppage time. As a result, El León del Imperio picked up their first point since returning to the top flight, although they remain bottom of the relegation averages table. Iván Delfino’s men have lost just one of their last five league matches (two wins and two draws), but they are also winless in four straight away games, collecting only two points from a possible 12 in that run. Even though it’s very early in the season, the points in this game could be huge for the relegation table as they are both in the last places and I’ll trust Banfield here against this Estudiantes team that are more inexperienced and haven’t even scored a goal in their first two games since returning to the top division after more than 40 years.