Preview: Lanus vs. Velez Sarsfield - prediction, team news, lineups

The visitors, meanwhile, climbed up to 24th position by beating Arsenal Sarandi at the weekend.

Match preview

Having won the Primera Division in 2007 and 2016, Lanus will be dreaming of making it a hat-trick of titles this season, with Frank Kudelka's side enjoying a surprisingly strong campaign after finishing second-bottom last time around.

Granate have lost just one of their last 13 league games, taking 15 points from an unbeaten run of seven matches in recent weeks to move only one point behind second place in the table.

Of course, runaway leaders River Plate will be difficult to catch given that they still hold a nine-point lead at the summit despite losing at the weekend, but successive wins against Talleres de Cordoba and Platense have given Kudelka's team an outside chance.

They will sense an excellent opportunity to make it three wins in a row against their struggling opponents at Predio Lanus Auxiliar on Wednesday, although they will be wary of facing a potential new manager bounce.

Indeed, Velez Sarsfield have turned to a club legend as their new manager in the form of Sebastian Mendez, with the 45-year-old poached from Union Santa Fe last week.

El Fortin sacked Ricardo Gareca at the beginning of last month after making a poor start to the current campaign, biding their time to snap up the man that they clearly wanted to replace him.

Mendez should prove to be a popular appointment having made 177 league appearances for the club at the beginning of his playing career, winning three Argentine titles as well as a Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana apiece during a hugely successful period for the club.

Mendez made an instant impact upon his return, helping them end a losing streak of four matches when defeating Arsenal Sarandi 1-0 in his first game in charge on Saturday. However, Wednesday's short trip to the outskirts of Buenos Aires will clearly provide a much sterner test.

Lanus Argentine Primera Division form:

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W

D

D

W

W

Velez Sarsfield Argentine Primera Division form:

D

L

L

L

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W

Team News

Lanus will remain without Raul Loaiza and Jose Canale due to hamstring and arm injuries respectively, but otherwise Kudelka appears to have a clean bill of health to select from.

42-year-old forward Jose Sand is unlikely to start two matches in a week, so he could be replaced by Franco Orozco, with Franco Troyansky moving into a more central role.

Velez Sarsfield, meanwhile, will travel without Gaston Gomez and Santiago Caseres due to elbow and ankle issues respectively, while former Atletico Madrid defender Diego Godin is struggling with a muscular injury.

Mendez may see little reason to make any alterations to the first starting XI of his new era, with those 11 players delivering victory for him on his managerial debut at the club.

Lanus possible starting lineup:

Morales; Caceres, Aguilar, Lema, Mino; Fernandez, Boggio, Esquivel; Orozco, Troyansky, Vega

Velez Sarsfield possible starting lineup:

Burian; Pernicone, Giannetti, Gomez; Garcia, Ordonez, Mendez, Ortega; Janson, Prestianni; Osorio

We say: Lanus 1-0 Velez Sarsfield

Despite there being 20 positions and 19 points between these two teams ahead of their meeting on Wednesday, we expect the appointment of Mendez to make this a much closer contest than many may expect.

However, Lanus have built plenty of momentum within the past few months, and we can envisage them marginally getting themselves over the line in front of their home fans.

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