After over a month's break, the second phase of the Argentine Primera Division will resume this week with Barracas Central playing host to Newell's Old Boys on Thursday evening.
Both sides have made a fairly underwhelming start to the second phase of the season, with the hosts currently on four points after the first five games, while the visitors are just two points better off.
Match preview
© Reuters
Having finished just one point off the top of the table in the first phase of the campaign, Barracas Central stumbled out of the blocks in the second half of the season, managing just one win in their first five matches.
The Copa America may have come at just the right moment for Baraquenos, though, as they had lost three league games in a row leading up to the international break, conceding six goals in that time while only scoring one.
Last time out, Alejandro Orfila's side suffered a 2-1 defeat on the road to Gimnasia La Plata with Marco Iacobellis scoring the only goal for Los Camioneros in between strikes from Benjamin Dominguez and Rodrigo Castillo.
However, Barracas have been difficult to beat on their home patch this season, losing only two of their nine matches at Estadio Claudio Fabian Tapia, while taking a total of 15 points from the remaining 21 on offer.
The one major advantage that the hosts will have here is that they have already played and won a match this month in the Copa Argentina, while the visitors' last competitive outing was over a month ago.
Meanwhile, Newell's finished seventh in the first phase of the season with 21 points in 14 games, and like their opponents here, may have needed the international break to get their performances back on track.
Los Leprosos suffered back-to-back 2-0 defeats to Banfield and Instituto leading up to the break and have only found the back of the net three times in their five matches in this phase of the competition.
The club also saw the departure of Mauricio Larriera during the international break, with Sebastian Mendez taking over on June 19 and this will be the Spaniard's first match in charge.
Mendez's first task will be to help Newell's bring an end to a three-match losing streak on the road dating back to mid-April, during which the side failed to score a single goal while conceding four.
These two sides have met twice in the top flight in the past, and Barracas failed to win either, drawing the first match 1-1 in 2022 at this venue, while Newell's won last season's encounter 1-0 on their home patch.
Team News
© Reuters
Barracas Central have two long-term injury absentees at present in Lucas Lopez and Fernando Prado, both of whom are likely to remain sidelined for the majority of the season due to ACL injuries.
Maximiliano Puig has missed the last five games for the hosts owing to a tendon injury, but the central midfielder is expected to return to first-team action in the next couple of weeks.
Santos loanee Rodrigo Fernandez was shown a second yellow card in the dying moments of Newell's loss to Instituto last month and will serve his one-match suspension this week.
David Sotelo, who has only made one league appearance this season, is the only known injury absentee for the visitors, and he has been ruled out until October due to an issue with his knee.
Barracas Central possible starting lineup:
Moyano; Mater, Goni, Demartini, Insua; A. Juarez, Herrera, Coronel, Iacobellis; Candia, D. Juarez
Newell's Old Boys possible starting lineup:
Hoyos; Mendez, Jacob, Glavinovich, Martino; Cacciabue, Fernandez, Banega; Gonzalez, Ramirez, Aguirre
We say: Barracas Central 1-1 Newell's Old Boys
Barracas Central have maintained a decent home record this season, and got some much-needed game time in the cup competition last week, which could be an influential factor here.
Newell's, on the other hand, have not played a competitive fixture in over a month, and we feel they may just need this match to find their rhythm.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Devesh Jaganath
