River Plate had a rough night last Sunday. They couldn’t show their usual skills and only had enough to rescue a point following a 1-1 home stalemate against Banfield, with Pablo Solari scoring in the 90th minute. As a result, El Millonario dropped down to second spot in the group A table, accumulating 12 points in the Copa Liga Profesional and trailing leaders Independiente by one. On a positive note, River are on nine matches unbeaten in league action, winning four and drawing five in regular time. At home, Martin Demichelis’ men won only one of the last five, along with three stalemates and one defeat. Striker Miguel Borja continues to recover from a muscle injury and will be at most on the bench.

Boca Juniors continue finding trouble to show their best version under recently-appointed coach Diego Martinez. Last Sunday, the team succumbed to an unexpected 2-1 away defeat at Lanus, a result that means El Xeneize saw their nine-match unbeaten streak of four victories and five stalemates in league action coming to an end. Following that loss, the side remain on nine points after six rounds in the Copa Liga Profesional, which is not enough to occupy one of the playoff spots in group B. Boca managed four points from nine on offer on away turf in this competition as they won one, drew one and lost one so far.

Another edition of the Superclasico and I expect this one to be much more balanced than what the odds say. River has been quite poor at home lately winning only one out of the last five and barely getting a draw on the last one against the poor Banfield. Their best striker Miguel Borja is still injured and could be on the bench but he’s clearly not fit and he’s only rushed because this is a huge game for them. Boca is not a good team yet but at least they’ve been strong in defense with only 3 goals conceded in 6 games, so I’ll expect them to be able to at least hold to a draw.