Independiente vs San Martin de Tucuman Predictions

Wednesday’s Superliga Argentina action sees the re-arranged clash between Independiente and San Martin de Tucuman take place. It’s expected to be a comfortable evening for the hosts against the newly promoted visitors.

After a slow start to the league campaign, amidst Copa Libertadores distraction, Independiente are finally starting to hit some form, with 3 wins from the last 4 games raising spirits and lifting El Rojo up to 10th place. 10 points adrift of leaders, and arch rivals Racing and with hopes of challenging for the title this season, the hosts still have plenty of work to do but they’re at least starting to play in the manner viewers have grown accustomed to seeing under boss Ariel Holan.

Indeed, Independiente were not a particularly powerful side prior to Holan coming in a couple of years ago but he’s transformed them into a strong outfit with a clear and defined style of play. Hungry to gain ground on those above them and in good form it’s clear the hosts have only one aim going into Wednesday’s match and that’s claiming all 3 points.

Meanwhile, San Martin travel to Avellaneda with spirits high after claiming a golden set of 3 points over the weekend against a direct relegation rival, seeing off San Martin de San Juan 2-0 on home soil. Coming into the campaign as a newly promoted side with limited resources, El Santo always looked like facing a battle to stay in the division but after struggling early on, they are now in improved form, taking 7 points from the last available 9.

Nonetheless, that point total is still not enough to lift Walter Coyette’s troops out of the drop zone on the average points table and they look set for a season long scrap, mainly due to their dreadful away performances. Whilst they may be starting to find the type of home form that saw them promoted in the first place, San Martin remain extremely weak on the road and haven’t even scored a goal on enemy territory this season in 4 attempts, losing 3 times in the process.

Ultimately, although both teams arrive in good form, there’s a big gap in terms of quality between them, with Independiente by far the stronger of the two on paper. The hosts have one of the strongest squads in the entire country whereas San Martin’s certainly ranks towards the bottom of the quality scale, leaving them facing a big task in this trip.

Independiente’s improved recent showings and San Martin’s away struggles leads to only one conclusion and that’s a home win, and we fancy said victory to be to nil. Independiente are generally very secure defensively at the Estadio Libertadores de America, keeping clean sheets in 3 of their last 4 outings there and we envisage them building on said streak with a routine 2-0 win.