Estudiantes and Talleres face off in La Plata for top spot | OneFootball

El Pincha wants to secure home-field advantage after three straight wins, while La T has already reached the round of 16 and is looking to improve its position in the standings.

On Matchday 16 of the Torneo Apertura, Estudiantes de La Plata will host Talleres de Córdoba this Saturday starting at 5 p.m. at Jorge Luis Hirschi Stadium. Both teams have already secured their place in the playoffs, but they come into this final stretch with different goals.

The team led by Alexander Medina is in excellent form: it has won three straight matches and shares the top spot in Zone A with Boca Juniors. Now the objective is clear: win to secure home-field advantage in the knockout rounds. In addition, El Pincha is also starting to keep an eye on the Copa Libertadores, where it will face Flamengo next week.

As for the team, the coach plans to make several changes, although he will keep a core group of starters. The idea is to stay sharp while also managing workloads with both competitions in mind.

Talleres, qualified and ambitious

On the other side, Talleres comes in with the peace of mind of a job done. The win over Riestra and Defensa y Justicia’s loss to Boca secured its place in the round of 16. However, Carlos Tevez’s team is not satisfied: it will look to get points in La Plata to break into the top four and thus host its knockout match at Mario Alberto Kempes Stadium.

With 24 points, La T wants to finish the regular phase in the best possible way and head into the elimination rounds looking strong, aiming to be a major contender.

Probable lineups

Estudiantes: Fernando Muslera; Eros Mancuso, Leandro González Pirez, Tomás Palacios, Gastón Benedetti; Mikel Amondarain, Ezequiel Piovi; Tiago Palacios, Facundo Farías, Edwuin Cetré; Guido Carrillo. Head coach: Alexander Medina.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.