Banfield vs River Plate

Estadio Florencio Sola is the venue as relegation-battling Banfield and table-topping River Plate go head-to-head in a lopsided Liga Professional encounter.

The situation couldn’t be much worse from Banfield’s point of view after a 2-0 defeat at Racing Club last time out left them only one point clear of rock-bottom Arsenal Sarandi. Banfield’s prospects look rather blunt as barring a 2-0 triumph over Rosario Central in their most recent home outing, they’ve lost four of their last five Liga Professional fixtures, failing to score in three of them. But the impending home return might give manager Javier Sanguinetti some solace, considering his men have avoided defeat three times in their last four top-flight matches at the Florencio Sola (W2, D1), racking up three clean sheets in that stretch.

In the meantime, River Plate’s lead at the Liga Professional summit is melting with each round passing, with the abandonment of last week’s home clash against Defensa y Justicia allowing second-placed Talleres Cordoba to reduce the gap to a single point. Enzo Francescoli’s men are, therefore, desperate to consolidate their place at the top, which would require them to put a stop to an underwhelming five-match winless away run in all competitions (D3, L2). But considering they only scored more than once on one occasion during that sequence, keeping a clean sheet could be of paramount significance. Unfortunately for River, that’s a feat they’ve only managed twice on their last nine competitive visits to Banfield.