Banfield vs Lanus
Banfield once again displayed their usual inconsistency on Saturday, halting the improvement they had shown in previous matches and suffering a poor 1-0 home defeat to Argentinos Juniors. As a result, El Taladro have won just one of their last eight league matches, drawing three and losing four, and have 13 points in Group B of the Torneo Clausura. Pedro Troglio’s side are well off the pace in the race for the playoffs and have no remaining objectives in the annual table, meaning they will practically play their final three matches simply to fulfil the schedule. Lanús head into the Southern Greater Buenos Aires derby in excellent form. Last Saturday, they were clearly superior to their opponents and beat Platense 1-0 away thanks to a first-half goal from Allan Wlk. El Granate extended their unbeaten run in the Torneo Clausura to six matches, winning five and drawing one, to move into fifth place in Group A with 23 points. They have also moved into the Copa Sudamericana qualifying places in the annual table. Lanus are clearly in better form but this is a derby, probably the most important game of the tournament for both and one that has been very balanced lately even when Lanus is the better team, with 3 wins each and 4 draws in their last 10 meetings so I’ll trust the hosts here to avoid a defeat.