Instituto vs Velez
Instituto showed an interesting version last Tuesday, but they were ineffective up front and registered a scoreless home draw against Rosario Central. However, they continue to perform quite well in the Copa Liga Profesional: La Gloria made it seven league matches unbeaten (two victories and five draws) to accumulate 15 points in group A, still into the playoff zone just. They hold a healthy eight-point gap over the relegation spot in the aggregate table with four rounds to go. On a sorry note, Instituto have been irregular at home in this competition, having won one, drawn two and lost one so far. Right back Juan Franco returns from suspension while strikers Adrian Martinez and Lucas Albertengo will miss out on Saturday after succumbing to different muscle injuries.
Velez Sarsfield wasted a big chance to escape relegation last Monday, when they succumbed to an unexpected 1-0 home defeat to direct contenders Banfield in a boring game. Having claimed a single victory across their last five league matches (two stalemates and two losses), El Fortin remain on 14 points in the Copa Liga Profesional group A, which is a good campaign but just enough to stay two points above the drop spot in the aggregate table. Furthermore, Velez struggle when they travel: they have been winless in the last seven away matches, drawing three and losing four in that spell. First-choice goalkeeper Gaston Gomez succumbed to a pubis problem and will miss this game while his usual replacement Leonardo Burian is unavailable due to personal issues. As a result, Lautaro Garzon will make his debut.
Velez are desperate for points, they will have to use their third goalkeeper who will debut here because Gomez is injured and Burian is unavailable, so I’ll go with this short totals line because the draw won’t be good enough for either of them.