Monterrey vs Pachuca Predictions

Saturday’s Liga MX Clausura action sees Monterrey going up against Pachuca. The hosts will be looking to kick off the second half of the campaign with a win on home soil against a less than convincing Pachuca outfit.

With one of the strongest squads in the division and having added Argentine international Maximiliano Meza to it, Monterrey come into the Clausura phase as one of the favourites to win it. Los Rayados went close to lifting the Apertura phase title but were eventually edged out by Cruz Azul in the play-off semi-finals, leaving a feeling of a need for redemption running through the squad.

Despite their eventual disappointment, Monterrey more than showed they were a force over the opening half of the season, finishing 5th in the regular table after taking an impressive 30 points from 17 games. Over said matches, most of their good work was done on home soil and having now won 6 straight matches in front of their own fans, confidence is very high going into Saturday’s game.

Meanwhile, Pachuca have struggled to really deal with the continual sale of key figures in recent seasons and once again missed out on a play-off spot in the Apertura. Taking 24 points from 17 matches, the side fell just short again and look a shadow of the force they once were.

Breaking back into the top 8 is undoubtedly the aim for Los Tuzos over the coming months, but whether they’ll be able to do so or not remains another matter. Improvement on an away record that reads just 2 wins from the last 9 would seriously aid said target but travelling to a Monterrey team they’ve lost 5 of their last 6 clashes against doesn’t look the most likely place for it to start.

Ultimately, this a match Monterrey have to be targeting 3 points in and we fully believe they’ll get them. Man for man, they’re a stronger outfit than Pachuca, evidenced by the 6 point gap between the sides in the Apertura phase and on home soil, the hosts have to be fancied.

As such, backing a home win looks the way to play as far as the betting goes and is something we’re more than happy to do with maximum confidence. Monterrey are a very powerful force on their own patch and given their recent dominance over this fixture, we think they’ll edge the clash by a 1-0 margin.