Two sides seeking their first victory of the 2024 Liga MX Apertura season will meet on Tuesday at Jalisco Stadium as Atlas play host to Santos Laguna.
On Saturday, the club from Guadalajara could not hang onto a half-time advantage versus Tigres, playing to a 1-1 draw, while Verdiblancos claimed that same result against Pumas.
Match preview
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After two matchdays in the Apertura, Atlas find themselves in the bottom half of the domestic table with a mere two points.
While Benat San Jose has yet to see his team lose in this portion of the season, they have failed to win their last two matches when scoring the opening goal, dating back to the previous Clausura campaign.
Only one of their last eight home matches in Liga MX have resulted in a victory for them, when they came from behind to defeat San Luis 2-1 in April.
While their triumphs have been few and far between of late, they have frequently avoided defeat, earning at least a point in four of their previous five domestic affairs.
They are unbeaten in three consecutive Liga MX encounters versus Laguna, and they have not lost any of their last four home games against them.
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After a rough ending to their recent Clausura campaign, Santos Laguna have held their own to this point of the 2024 Apertura.
The side from Comarca Lagunera lost their final three matches of the 2024 Clausura campaign by a combined margin of 7-0 but have only conceded two goals so far this season.
Ignacio Ambriz saw his side draw first blood over the weekend for the first time in this domestic campaign, and they have now failed to win three consecutive Liga MX contests when doing so.
Dating back to the 2024 Clausura campaign, this team have not won a domestic contest since March (3-0 over Cruz Azul), and they have not won an away match since then either (1-0 versus Queretaro).
Laguna have points in three of their previous four meetings with Atlas but have not won an away match against them since 2019 (2-1).
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Team News
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Atlas were missing Brian Lozano this past weekend as he recovers from knee surgery, and Mauro Manotas sat out with an ACL injury.
Raymundo Fulgencio, who is currently on loan from Tigres, netted the opening goal for them on matchday two, his first of the campaign.
Santos Laguna will not have Anderson Santamaria available after the Peruvian received two cautions in their weekend fixture, while Pedro Aquino, Ronaldo Prieto and Hugo Rodriguez were all sidelined with knee injuries.
Santiago Munoz converted a 33rd-minute penalty on matchday two to give his side the lead, as he is the only player to have found the back of the net for them so far this season.
Atlas possible starting lineup:
Hernandez; Lozano, Nervo, Mora, Reyes; Bass, Rocha; Murillo, Marquez, Fulgencio; E. Aguirre
Santos Laguna possible starting lineup:
Acevedo; Govea, Nunez, Lorona, Echeverria; Lopez, Mariscal; Medina, Carrillo, Macias; Munoz
We say: Atlas 0-0 Santos Laguna
The season is still early, but it has been rather promising for Laguna, given how they ended the previous campaign, and we believe they can frustrate Atlas and claim a positive result.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Joel Lefevre
