Argentinos Juniors can maintain their 100% home record in the second phase of the Argentine Primera Division campaign when they host Central Cordoba on Wednesday at Estadio Diego Armando Maradona.
Heading into matchday five, the club from La Paternal are fifth in the cumulative table following a 1-0 defeat at Belgrano, while El Ferroviario were beaten 4-2 by Talleres Cordoba and remain second from bottom overall.
Match preview
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The struggles away from home at Argentinos seem to be preventing them from contending for the league title, claiming just one point in their last three Primera contests as the visitors, failing to score in each of those encounters.
Conversely, their splendid home form has kept them in contention, unbeaten in either phase of this competition at Estadio Diego Armando Maradona.
With 32 domestic points in 2024, El Tifon de Boyaca are just four points behind River Plate for the title, while only two points separate them from Estudiantes and Talleres for a spot at the Copa Libertadores next year.
Coming into this fixture, Pablo Guede's men have won four successive home matches in all competitions, failing to concede on two of those occasions.
This side have not lost after netting the opening goal since matchday seven of the opening phase when Independiente came from behind to beat them 2-1.
They have never lost a home contest against Central Cordoba but have only beaten them once on their home field, 3-1, during the 2020 Superliga season.
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Four matches into the second phase of this campaign, Cordoba continue to be exposed defensively, conceding 13 goals, the most of any side in round two of this competition.
Only the equally poor form of Tigre is keeping this side above the relegation line, with Cordoba currently on 11 points overall in the Primera Division this season, five more than the aforementioned club from Victoria, Buenos Aires.
Lucas Gonzalez has had a miserable opening season as manager of this side, losing 11 of his 18 domestic encounters in charge this year.
A 2-1 defeat at Belgrano on matchday three of the second phase extended their losing run away from home in this competition to three games, with this team scoring just once and conceding 10 combined times over that stretch.
One of the few encouraging signs that Gonzalez can take from their second phase thus far is the fact that his side have scored the opener in two of their previous three encounters before falling apart.
Although they have never won an away match versus Argentinos, the club from Santiago del Estero have points in three of their previous four meetings against them, claiming their first victory versus El Bicho at home in 2023 (1-0).
Team News
Gaston Veron is unlikely to feature for Argentinos until mid-June because of a muscle injury, while Francisco Alvarez returned from suspension against Belgrano, replacing Jonathan Galvan in the second half.
From matchdays three to four, there was one new face in their starting 11, with Santiago Montiel coming into the fold to replace Veron.
Cordoba will not have Jose Gomez or Argentinos Juniors loanee Thiago Nuss available to them until early July because of a sprained knee and meniscus issue, respectively, while Matias Godoy should return in the middle of June from a muscle injury.
Tomas Molina had a brace for them in a losing effort on matchday four of this competition, the second and third of the second phase for him, moving above Mateo Sanabria and Rodrigo Atencio for first on the team as a result.
Argentinos Juniors possible starting lineup:
Rodriguez; Alvarez, Galvan, Vega; Santamaria, Oroz, Cardozo, Viveros, Batallini; Lescano, Gondou
Central Cordoba possible starting lineup:
Ingolotti; Garrido, Valdez, Leizza, Rivero; Trindade, Vazquez, Atencio; Sanabria, Molina, Cansinos
We say: Argentinos Juniors 3-1 Central Cordoba
Given the momentum that Argentinos have built up at home this season and how vulnerable Cordoba have been defensively, we expect Juniors to create their share of openings and capitalise on Wednesday.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Joel Lefevre
