River Plate vs Independiente

River Plate secured a valuable point on their visit to Independiente after a scoreless draw two weeks ago, with goalkeeper Franco Armani in a superb form. Last Friday, coach Marcelo Gallardo rotated his players and the team still were able to thrash Lanus 5-1 away, which means El Millonario are on 13 points in the fourth spot of the Superliga table (six behind leaders Racing Club) as a product of three consecutive wins and four draws. River Plate also reached 30 competitive matches without a defeat (19 victories, 11 stalemates). At home, they haven’t lost any of the last 14, with eight successes in that time.

Independiente fans will have felt sorry after that scoreless home draw against River Plate as the team need to find the back of the net on the road to hope for the ticket to semi-finals without penalties. Last Friday, El Rojo’s alternative XI drew with Tigre 0-0 at home, with Gonzalo Veron missing a penalty in the first half. That means they accumulated seven points in six league matches (one in hand). Independiente is on seven competitive games without defeat in regular time, but six of them ended in draws. On the road, they managed six matches unbeaten, having won only once (over Cerezo Osaka 1-0 in Japan).

This will be a hard-fought game between two of the best teams in the Argentine league, but I’ll back a home win as River Plate are in a superb form and at home, they seem totally unbeatable.

BET: River -0.5 @ 1.76