River Plate vs Lanus Predictions

Sunday’s Superliga Argentina action sees River Plate doing battle with Lanus at the Estadio Monumental. The hosts are expected to pick up their first win of the new season and will be looking to do exactly that.

After a 4th placed finish in the Argentine top flight last season, River will be hoping to put together more of a title challenge over the coming year. Nonetheless, as was the case last campaign, most of that will depend on how distracted they are by continental competition, with Marcelo Gallardo having prioritised the Copa Libertadores on the way to winning it last season, regularly fielding rotated teams for league matches.

Indeed, River made some changes for last weekend’s opening day draw at Argentinos Juniors prior to advancing to the Libertadores quarter-finals in midweek but this weekend; all focus can be solely on league action and the 3 points on offer. Los Millonarios’ first choice XI is amongst the strongest in Argentina and when fielded makes the side the favourites in almost every game they play and that’s certainly the case in this match.

Indeed, Lanus are no longer the force they’ve previously been in Argentine football and aren’t expected to compete anywhere near the top end of the table this season. El Granate laboured to an 11th placed finish last season with a squad packed full of inexperienced youngsters and an opening day draw at home to Gimnasia de la Plata hardly provides reason for encouragement coming into this game.

Whilst still a competitive and strong outfit at home, it’s on the road where Lanus have really tended to struggle and is perhaps where greater experiences in the squad could be of benefit. The visitors won just 2 away games throughout last season and coming into this match with 4 consecutive defeats on the road behind them, confidence cannot be high.

Ultimately, this is a match River really should be winning and free of any distraction; it’s hard to see them failing to do so. Man for man, they are stronger in all areas of the pitch than Lanus and the visitors don’t appear strong enough to even threaten a surprise.

With the attacking talent they have, River should not find it hard to break Lanus down and backing them to clear the Over 1.5 Team Total Goals line looks like an excellent way to play as far as the betting is concerned. River have won 4 of their last 5 Superliga Argentina home games, whilst scoring an average of 2.4 goals a game and we can see them running out 3-1 winners in this one.