Banfield vs Independiente
Banfield continue to struggle in the league. The team was outplayed last Monday, suffering a 1-0 defeat against Tigre, one of the Group A leaders. With that result, Ariel Broggi’s side has now gone five league matches without a win (one draw and four losses). El Taladro remains stuck at seven points in as many matches, far from the playoff spots in Group A. Additionally, Banfield won just one of their last seven home matches, with three draws and three defeats.
Independiente remain one of the top teams in the league this season. Last Saturday, they delivered a strong performance to defeat Instituto 2-0 at home, with goals from Álvaro Angulo and Federico Mancuello. El Rojo are now unbeaten in three league matches (two wins and one draw), staying second in Group B with 16 points, just one behind Rosario Central. However, Julio Vaccari’s side have struggled away from home, winning just one of their last seven road games (three draws and three losses). On Wednesday 25, Independiente won 2-0 over third-tier side Sportivo Belgrano in the Copa Argentina first round.
Independiente are definitely better than this struggling Banfield that again won’t have striker Tomas Nasif, who score 3 of the 5 goals they have in 7 rounds, so I’ll take the visitors to get the 3 points here.