Lanus vs Banfield
Lanus come to the derby off a frustrating 2-2 away stalemate at Defensa y Justicia in a thrilling match last Sunday, when they wasted a 2-0 lead and ended up settling for a point. However, El Granate had enough to hold onto their Copa Libertadores’ spot, staying into fourth place of the league table on 41 points after losing only one of their last nine matches in this competition (along with four victories and four draws). Lanus lost their last home match (1-0 to Velez Sarsfield), a result that broke a seven-game unbeaten streak at Estadio Nestor Diaz Perez (six wins and one stalemate).
After their recent improvement, Banfield returned to a disappointing version last Sunday, when they had to settle for a scoreless home draw against bottom-placed Sarandi Arsenal, even deserving the defeat. However, El Taladro made it three league games unbeaten, winning two and drawing one in that time. Julio Falcioni’s men are now on 25 points, six above Huracan, who are now losing their top-flight status via the aggregate table. In fact, Banfield won 2-1 at Tigre in their last away game to break a six-match winless streak of two stalemates and four losses on the road.
Lanus is the best of these two teams but this is a derby, they usually play hard fought games and a Banfield that has been showing some improvements should be able to avoid a defeat.