Banfield vs River Plate Predictions

Monday’s Superliga Argentina action sees Banfield doing battle with River Plate. Plenty of action is expected at both ends of the pitch as the two chase the 3 points on offer.

Hosts Banfield come into the game looking for their first win under new boss Hernan Crespo. It was always going to be a big ask to replace legendary ex-manager Julio César Falcioni and indeed, Crespo hasn’t got off to a flying start, taking just 2 points from his opening 3 Superliga games in charge.

With key forward Darío Cvitanich also having left, to join Racing Club, it was expected that it’d be attacking areas in which El Taladro would struggle but if anything, it’s been at the other end where problem have been found. Indeed, Banfield have notched at least once in all 3 of the aforementioned fixtures and even scoring 4 at Tigre last time out wasn’t enough to secure a win, with the game ending in a draw.

Meanwhile, River could easily have played their part in their own 4-4 draw in their clash with Rosario Central in midweek, but the game somehow ended 1-1 despite having a plethora of chances and being one the most memorable games so far this season. Nonetheless, it was a game River really needed to win and that does put a certain degree of pressure on Monday’s game for the visitors.

Indeed, River had moved closer to the Copa Libertadores spots with an excellent run of consecutive wins against Godoy Cruz, Velez and Racing respectively and Marcelo Gallardo’s troops will be looking to return to winning ways in this one, something they can be confident in doing having won 4 of their last 7 Superliga away games.

Ultimately, we’re expecting this match to be one of the more interesting and entertaining fixture in this round of Superliga fixtures. It has an interesting dynamic to it in the sense that both teams really could do with winning it and there’s sure to be a great atmosphere at the Estadio Florencio Sola, with special permission having been given for River’s fans to be in attendance.

With neither team finding it hard to hit the back of the net, backing over 2.5 goals to be scored looks an excellent way to play and is exactly where our money is going. Said line has been cleared in 4 of the last 5 meetings between the two and with River having won 5 of their last 6 games against Banfield, we also fancy a play on an away win in combination with over 2.5 goals and believe a 2-1 River win could well be on the cards.