Newell’s vs Sarmiento
Newell’s Old Boys are still struggling to overcome their irregularity. Last Monday, the team showed another worrying performance and registered a disappointing scoreless away draw at Platense. La Lepra lost only one of their last four league matches (two wins and one stalemate), but they remain out of the playoff places in the Copa Liga Profesional group B (with 15 points) and four points behind the last Copa Sudamericana spot in the aggregate table with just three rounds to go. At home, Newell’s are without a win in their last three matches, having taken a single point from nine on offer in that time.
Sarmiento new coach Facundo Sava started life at the club with a scoreless home stalemate against San Lorenzo in an entertaining game last Monday. That result means El Verde are now on nine league matches without a win (six draws and three defeats), making it 12 points in 11 Copa Liga Profesional rounds. Therefore, the side are still struggling to stay in the top flight as they are now sharing the relegation spot in the aggregate table with Colon, Union Santa Fe and Huracan. On away turf, Sarmiento have been winless in the last ten, drawing four and losing six since beating Union Santa Fe 2-0 in May.
Pretty much a must win game for both: Newell’s are 2 pts behind the playoffs zone of Group B and 4 points behind the Copa Sudamericana zone of the anual table, so a draw is useless for them, while the same thing can be said about Sarmiento who are now on the relegation spot and 1 point is not enough for them. Expecting an open game here, so I’m going for the over on this low totals line.