River Plate VS Talleres Cordoba

River Plate welcome Talleres Cordoba at Estadio Antonio Vespucio Liberti in Buenos Aires early Sunday morning Beijing time. The situation is very clear here. The hosts are very clear favorites, bigger than the betting market estimates. This league is on average, similarly to many other South American league – for example Brazilian Serie B – a low-scoring one but I believe we will see an entertaining match here with some goals. The main reason is the immense offensive power River Plate have. They have scored 29 goals so far which is clearly the highest number in this league. The hosts have an edge over Talleres Cordoba in all areas of the game, also in defense despite the fact that both teams have allowed the same number of goals – 17. In terms of expected goals conceded Talleres Cordoba have been lucky and should have allowed 21 goals. They have also grabbed a few more points than they would have deserved in terms of expected points. Both are statistical tools commonly used by most professional football bettors to identify possibly over- or under-valued teams in an attempt to find lucrative matches to bet on. River Plate, one of the giants by historical success, media attention or monetary resources currently occupy the 6th place in the standings but are only seven points behind the leaders and the other giant in Argentina, Boca Juniors. However, they will surely climb up the standings and rate them as a top-2 team in this league in my power ratings that illustrate the teams’ pure class.

We have gone against River plate a few times this season, but they have now improved from early season more than the latest results would reflect. River Plate did well in their most recent match beating a pretty strong team San Lorenzo 1-0 away from home. The hosts had a few chances, but River Plate recorded a 57% ball possession and did deserve the three points. Before this they were very unlucky to lose to Banfield, a mediocre team, 1-2 at home despite having 71% ball possession. They also recorded much more shots on target, scoring attempts, assists, completed assists, attacks and especially dangerous attacks – 87-24. On the 11th of this month, they would have deserved at least a point, but Boca Juniors were a bit lucky and won 1-0 at home. Talleres Cordoba are a weak team away from home and let’s remember that River Plate have very atheistic fans! The visitors have not won a single game this season in this league on the road and have scored just four goals! In their most recent match, they beat Colon Santa Fe 2-0 but this final score is misleading – a draw would have been justified after a tight match.