Preview and predictions for the ninth round of games in the Clausura 2011 tournament.
Preview
Thanks to the unhelpful people at Telefonica I've been without broadband for the best part of two weeks now. I'll do my best to make some predictions but I don't have the time to do my usual level of research.
Estudiantes will host San Lorenzo in the first game of round nine. The fixture has resulted in three consecutive home wins since a 1-1 draw back in Apertura 2007. After last weekend's 1-2 home defeat to Colón, San Lorenzo probably need to take something from this game to avoid falling away from the title race as they did in the Apertura.
It looks likely that both Independiente and Godoy Cruz will be eliminated from group 8 of Copa Libertadores next week after their meeting on Friday night. The two teams are pretty evenly matched against each other in games in Avellaneda. Godoy Cruz won the Libertadores encounter and are the highest scoring team in the division however they are likely to be concentrating on the fact that they must win against LDU in Quito next week to avoid elimination from Copa Libertadores.
Colón have won all five of their Primera División home games against Olimpo without even conceding a goal. Colón have gathered the majority of their Clausura points on the road however given Olimpo's poor record in this fixture and the fact that they have lost nine of their thirteen away games so far in the 2010-11 season a home win looks like a reasonable bet.
Quilmes have still yet to win a game in 2011 and have not won against Arsenal in Sarandí since Apertura 2005.
Racing Club have gone from a team leading the league with fluid attacking football to infighting and losing three games in a row. They face a tough trip to Huracán where they have lost three in a row, the last time they won this fixture was way back in Apertura 2002.
River Plate are unbeaten in three games and their visitors Banfield have not won in three games. Both sides have drawn two of their last three games but this fixture has not resulted in a draw in eight games since a 0-0 draw back in 2002. Banfield do not have a bad record at El Monumental, having won three of their last eight league games there. River have the second best defence in the league having only conceded four goals in their first eight games of the season.
Gimnasia lost their spectacularly good home record against Independiente last weekend and once again look like a side who's only hope of avoiding automatic relegation by simply relying on two of the promoted sides to fill the bottom two places in the promedios. They face a trip to Argentinos Juniors where they have not won since 2005. Argentinos may be tired having played in Mexico in midweek but I still fancy them to win against a Gimnasia side that have only won one away game in thirteen attempts. They have also only scored five away goals in 2010-11 and Argentinos Juniors have the strongest defence in the Clausura.
Boca Juniors have a reasonably good away record against Lanús, they have won six of their last twelve games at "La Fortaleza" and Lanús have not scored more than one goal in the tie since April 1998.
Tigre against All Boys looks like a real relegation six pointer. The two Buenos Aires minnows are fairly closely matched this season however in league top scorer Denis Straqualursi Tigre have a striker that may well make the difference in this game.
Vélez Sársfield will fancy their chances of winning their home game against Newell's Old Boys who have lost five consecutive away games and have not won on the road in thirteen matches since a 1-2 win at Argentinos Juniors back in September 2010.
Predictions
As the results come in I will fill in the actual scores and colour code the predicted scores, green for exact score, yellow for correct result and red for completely wrong. Each green score gets three points, each yellow score gets one point and red scores get nothing. If you fancy playing along fill out your predictions in the comments below to see if you can beat mine.
| 08-04-11 | Prediction | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Estudiantes | 0-0 | San Lorenzo | 2-1 |
| Independiente | 3-0 | Godoy Cruz | 2-2 |
| 09-04-11 | |||
| Colón | 0-2 | Olimpo | 2-0 |
| Arsenal | 2-2 | Quilmes | 1-0 |
| Huracán | 0-0 | Racing | 2-1 |
| River Plate | 1-0 | Banfield | 1-0 |
| 10-04-11 | |||
| Argentinos Juniors | 1-1 | Gimnasia y Esgrima (LP) | 1-0 |
| Lanús | 2-0 | Boca Juniors | 1-1 |
| Tigre | 0-1 | All Boys | 2-0 |
| Vélez Sársfield | 2-0 | Newell's Old Boys | 4-0 |
Score: 4 points. A really poor effort, only two results predicted correctly, only saved from being the worst score yet by the fact I picked the correct score in the River Plate game.
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