Santos
- Santos have won 2, drawn 3 and lost 9 matches in the Clausura, bottom of the table.
- Santos Laguna Mexico coach Omar Tapia will have his work cut out to improve their league position and morale before the Clausura ends next month.
- Santos lost 4 - 2 to Pachuca and drew 1 - 1 with América recently.
- Santos have been porous at the back all season and have not found enough quality in attack to compensate for it.
- The loss of star striker Anthony Lozano to a knee injury ahead of the game against Atlas on Sunday will make the challenge tougher for Tapia and his team.
- Santos are a 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 side that overlap their full-backs and get the ball wide to create numerical superiority in the box.
- Carlos Gruezo, Santos’ engine room in midfield, is a doubt for this clash with a hamstring problem, leaving them even more top heavy.
- Cristian Dájome is their main outlet and has been getting chances, registering goals and shots on target this season.
Atlas
- Atlas have won 5, drawn 4 and lost 5 of 14 Clausura matches, clustered in 7th - 8th place and chasing a playoff berth.
- Diego Cocca, the experienced boss of Atlas, is more of a pragmatist and will set his team up to be compact and difficult to break down.
- Atlas play a 4-3-3 system and will use the midfield to stay compact and disrupt the opponent’s play while their striker comes back to press high up.
- The return of Mateo García and Gustavo Ferrareis to the midfield will be a boost while Diego González and Arturo González have given Atlas another dimension to their attack and have chipped in with goals and assists when Djurdjević has been marked out of the game.
- Uroš Djurdjević is Atlas’ top scorer and goal threat, so if he gets chances to finish in this game he will have a big say in whether or not they win it.
Head-to-Head
Atlas’ last two home games against Santos have been won 3 - 0 and 1 - 0 , but the two meetings between these two sides here in recent seasons have produced a 2 - 0 Santos win and a 2 - 2 draw .
Santos
- Anthony Lozano - out with a knee injury.
- Carlos Gruezo - hamstring doubt.
- Cristian Dájome - main outlet, registering goals and shots on target this season.
Atlas
- Uroš Djurdjević - Atlas’ top scorer and primary goal threat.
- The return of Mateo García and Gustavo Ferrareis to the midfield will be a boost.
- Diego González and Arturo González - have added another dimension to Atlas’ attack with goals and assists.
Betting Insights
- Atlas are slight favorites for Sunday’s game at 2.62, with Santos 2.45 and the draw 3.45.
- BTTS (Yes) is the favorite at 1.58 and the stats look good for it.
- Under 2.5 goals at 2.04 looks a good value bet.
Prediction
Santos are in disarray, Atlas are solid, so the visitors will take a tight 1 - 0 or 2 - 0 win over the hosts.
