Torneo Inicial Big Match Preview: Tigre v Newell's

Newell's boss Gerardo Martino

Top of the table Newell's Old Boys travel to relegation-threatened Tigre, and Ed Malyon believes the away side are an outstanding price to win...

Tigre were last year's surprise package under Rodolfo Arruabarrena but as is so often the case with small sides that over-achieve, they were stripped of their best players and are now toughing it out at the bottom of the table, with just four points from their eight fixtures.

The worst news for Tigre is that their games so far haven't even been against the better opposition in this division, but they will certainly get some of that this Sunday when leaders Newell's Old Boys come to town.

Newell's were whipping boys before Gerardo Martino took over, but he has transformed the club, and some excellent signings in June and July have now thrust them into genuine title contention.

Maxi Rodriguez and Gabriel Heinze will grab the headlines due to their illustrious careers in Europe but another Argentine returning from the old continent has impressed far more.

Ignacio Scocco never made an enormous splash after moving to Europe, but after spells with AEK Athens and in the Middle East, he is back and he is dazzling the league. A traditional Argentine playmaker that has adapted to playing wide, Scocco has been featuring for Martino's Newell's as a 'false 9' - a tactical innovation that has been seen in Europe but until now, never on South American soil. With Rodriguez and Mauricio Sperdutti completing a fluid front three, this has been an incredibly effective strategy from Martino, with Newell's unbeaten and Scocco slotting in seamlessly to become the division's highest scorer.

The worrying bit is that Scocco has in fact missed a bucketload of chances too, but the dynamic, exciting way that his side play the game means that he gets plenty of opportunities throughout the ninety minutes, and he scored one and set one up in the game with Coln last week that we covered via the @BetfairSports Twitter account.

Match odds

Winless Tigre host unbeaten Newell's. Hmmm. Full of confidence and boasting the man with the most goals in the division, Newell's go to Tigre with their hosts having travelled to Ecuador on Wednesday to play a Copa Sudamericana tie at extreme altitude in Quito - which they lost.

Bearing all of this in mind, 2.77/4 for the visitors to win is a massive price, and one that should be seized upon.

Under/Over 2.5 Goals

The unders are heavily favourite on the markets with 1.684/6 for less than 2.5 goals. Newell's away games tend to be higher-scoring than games they play in Rosario, and in fact, their last two away trips have seen six and three goals each.

The worry on goals is Tigre, who had scored in eight of nine games in all competitions recently, but are now on a run of around 200 minutes without scoring a goal.

The value probably lies with the overs, just, but it's not a market worth spending much time on.

Other bets

Recently Newell's have been leaving it late, with their last game against Coln the first in five that they had been leading at half-time. With Tigre aware of the challenge ahead of them, a defensive outset is likely, so maybe the Draw/Newell's option on the Half Time/Full Time market is worth a pop at 6.7n/a and the 0-2 is on the generous side at 14.013/1

Recommended Bets

Back Newell's to win at 2.77/4 (Best Bet)
Back Newell's to win 0-2 @ 14.013/1