Banfield – River

Banfield showed a worthy version on their visit to Racing Club last time out in the context of a terrible campaign, but they couldn’t avoid a 2-0 away defeat. That result means El Taladro lost four of their last seven league games (along with a single victory and two stalemates), a negative streak that keeps them on 18 points in the Liga Profesional table, sharing the relegation place with Velez Sarsfield, Independiente, Atletico Tucuman, Huracan and Union Santa Fe. On a positive note, Banfield lost only one of their last four home matches, winning two and drawing one in that time. Brahian Aleman and Emanuel Insua have both served their respective suspensions and are available to host River Plate on Monday.

River Plate’s home match against Defensa y Justicia in round 19 has been abandoned after a fan’s death during the game (the score was 0-0). With that encounter in hand, the team remain as league table toppers on 41 points, leading second-placed Talleres by four. In fact, El Millonario lost only one of the 13 previous matches in this competition, along with ten victories and two stalemates in that time. On a sorry note, River are on three domestic games without a win on away turf, drawing two and losing one in that time.

Even though I expect River to win here, I’ll go with the OVER as River has been conceding a lot lately (in 7 of their last 10 games they received at least one goal) but also they are a high scoring team, scoring at least once in all 24 games they’ve played this year.

BET: OVER 2.25 @ 1.87