Matchday two of the new Liga MX Apertura campaign kicks off on Friday with Puebla welcoming Santos Laguna to Estadio Cuauhtemoc.
Last weekend, Los Camoteros conceded late at Tigres, ultimately settling for a 1-1 draw, while the small club from La Comarca Lagunera lost 2-0 at home versus Queretaro.
Match preview
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In his first Apertura match as manager of Puebla, Eduardo Arce was left disappointed as his side gave up an injury-time equaliser on matchday one, extending their road winless run in the opening phase of this competition to eight consecutive matches.
While squandering points so late into an encounter can prove costly down the line, the fact that this side only gave up one goal must feel like a positive sign given how poor they were defensively throughout the 2023 Clausura campaign.
La Franja gave up the third-most goals in the second phase of the 2023 Liga MX campaign (32), while that late goal conceded in their opener means that this team have now allowed at least one strike in 12 successive Apertura fixtures dating back to last season.
Three of their four wins in the opening phase of this competition last year came at home, but it could have been a lot more as they dropped eight points when leading at Estadio Cuauhtemoc in the final 45 minutes.
Puebla have points in three straight home fixtures versus Laguneros in Liga MX, posting two clean sheets over that span, including a 1-0 win in their 2022 Apertura encounter.
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Coming off an uncharacteristically poor Clausura campaign, Santos Laguna began the first half of this season on a sour note, conceding twice in the final 10 minutes for their first opening match loss in the Apertura since July 2020.
It was a tale of two seasons for this club in 2022-23, with Guerreros ending the Apertura campaign in third, posting their highest points total at that stage since 2013 (33), only to drop 10 places below that mark in last season's Clausura when they accumulated 14 fewer points.
As a team, Santos Laguna conceded the second-most goals in the Clausura last season (37), and they will be counting on new manager Pablo Repetto to plug those defensive holes, hiring him just before their final match of the second phase last season.
The 49-year-old has a solid track record of building defensively responsible squads, leading Nacional to the 2022 Intermedio and Clausura titles in Uruguay, conceding the fewest goals in each of those competitions, while helping LDU Quioto capture the Ecuadorian Serie A in 2018.
While his new team have allowed five goals in his only two domestic encounters at the helm, this group ended the previous Apertura campaign positively, posting a clean sheet in their final three contests.
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Team News
Four of the new arrivals at Puebla featured in their opening league fixture last week, including Brayan Angulo and Kevin Velasco, who were in the starting 11, while Efrain Orona and Luis Garcia came on as second-half substitutes in place of Alberto Herrera and Velasco respectively.
Angulo notched his first goal with his new team, Martin Barragan had eight in the Apertura last year, with Guillermo Martinez adding six in the Clausura.
In their previous Apertura home fixture versus Santos, Gustavo Ferrareis had the only goal, as former goalkeeper Anthony Silva collected a clean sheet in a 1-0 triumph.
Carlos Acevedo missed the opening match for Laguna as he is still dealing with a shoulder injury, with Gibran Lajud taking his place between the sticks, while newcomers Duvan Vergara and Pedro Aquino made their domestic debuts at Guerreros, replacing Emerson Rodriguez and Alan Cervantes respectively.
Harold Preciado had six goals in each portion of the previous Liga MX campaign, Javier Correa had six himself in the Apertura last year, while Juan Brunetta notched five in the Clausura.
Santiago Munoz is back from a loan spell at Newcastle United and will be expected to contribute significantly to this team in 2023-24, while Alberto Ocejo has returned from a loan spell with Atlas.
Puebla possible starting lineup:
J. Rodriguez; Ferrareis, De Buen, Silva, Angulo; Velasco, Gonzalez, Mancuello, Alvarez; Robles, Martinez
Santos Laguna possible starting lineup:
Lajud; R. Lopez, Torres, Doria, Campos; A. Lopez, Aquino; Vergara, Brunetta, Medina; Preciado
We say: Puebla 1-1 Santos Laguna
Both teams have some exciting new faces who could be impactful players as this competition rolls along, but in the early portion of the new season, we expect this to be more of a feel-out game for each side, both of whom are still trying to figure out how to fix the defensive frailties that we saw in the last Clausura campaign.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Joel Lefevre
