Lanus vs Velez
Thanks to a strike from Matias Esquivel in the 72nd minute, Lanus secured a massive 1-0 away success at Platense last Friday. El Granate extended their unbeaten streak to seven league matches, winning four and drawing three in that spell, to continue occupying one of the Copa Libertadores spots in the league table: they remain in fourth on 40 points after 21 rounds. At home, Lanus are now holding an impressive streak: they remain without defeat in their last seven games, with six victories and one stalemate. Leandro Diaz and Tomas Belmonte have served their respective suspensions and are available.
New coach Sebastian Mendez brought a big breather to Velez Sarsfield. The recently-appointed man in charge had a happy debut at the club as his team beat Sarandi Arsenal 1-0 at home, with Santiago Castro netting the winner in the 77th minute. Therefore, El Fortin finally stopped a 13-game winless streak of six draws and seven defeats in this competition to climb out of the relegation spot in the league table: they are now on 21 points, two above Huracan. On away turf, Velez secured a single point from the last 21 available since beating Talleres 2-1 in early March. Gaston Gomez and Diego Godin remain sidelined and will miss out on Tuesday.
Velez was just lucky to beat Arsenal, the worst team in the league, on Saturday and without their regular goalkeeper and their best defender, veteran Diego Godin, they should really be in trouble against this solid Lanus that will have their top scorer, Leandro Diaz, back from suspension.