CD Guadalajara will be looking to make it two wins from two in the Liga MX when they host Atletico San Luis at the Akron Stadium on Saturday evening.
The hosts got their season off to a solid start by winning 2-1 away at Club Leon, while the visitors drew 1-1 at home against Monterrey.
Match preview
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Guadalajara performed very well in the Clausura tournament last season, after finishing in third place, progressing all the way to the final before narrowly coming up short.
Chivas pushed Tigres all the way over the two-legged final, but they threw away a 2-0 lead at home, with their opponents completing their comeback in extra time when Guido Pizarro fired home in the 110th minute.
Although his side did not manage to get over the line, manager Veljko Paunovic can still take plenty of positives from the campaign, and he will be hoping for a much-improved performance in this year's Apertura tournament.
In the 2022-23 campaign, Guadalajara finished ninth in the table in the first stage of the season, exiting the playoffs at the first round with a 2-1 loss away at Puebla.
It is still very early days, but the Rebano Sagrado got off to the perfect start on Wednesday night, recording a 2-1 victory away at CD Leon, with Jonathan Padilla netting a late winner, which should give them confidence heading into their first home game of the season.
Atletico San Luis had quite a disappointing 2022-23 campaign, failing to reach the playoffs in the Apertura tournament after picking up just 18 points from 17 games, which meant they finished 13th in the table.
There was some improvement in the second stage of the season, with the Athletics just about managing to finish in 12th place, but they failed to go deep into the playoffs, exiting at the quarter-final stage, losing 4-3 to Club America on aggregate.
A major issue last season was San Luis' away record, collecting just four points from their nine away games in the second stage of the season, and new manager Gustavo Leal will be hoping to turn their form around on the road.
Leal managed to pick up a point against a solid Monterrey side in his first match in the dugout, but his side really should have taken more on the balance of play.
Atletico San Luis dominated the majority of the match, recording over double the amount of shots on target compared to their opponents, but they failed to make their superiority pay, with Angel Zaldivar missing a crucial second-half penalty which would have made it 2-1.
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Team News
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CD Guadalajara are unlikely to make too many changes after winning their opening game, but 17-year-old Padilla could come in on the right-wing, having scored his first goal for the club after being brought on as a substitute last time out.
As such, the more experienced Isaac Brizuela could drop to the bench, but it would not be a surprise to see the 32-year-old be brought on later in the game, if Paunovic needs to bring on an impact substitute.
Chivas will have to continue to make do without Carlos Cisneros and Jose Macias, who are both missing with knee injuries, while Alexis Vega remains a doubt, having missed the last match.
Atletico San Luis have just one injury doubt, with Leo Bonatini potentially missing out through injury, and the forward's absence could be a big blow, given that he scored in his final three games of last season.
Leal may be hesitant to tinker with his side too much after the very encouraging performance against Monterrey, so it would not be a surprise to see the Brazilian manager field an unchanged starting lineup.
CD Guadalajara possible starting lineup:
Jimenez; Mozo, Briseno, Orozco, Calderon; Gonzalez, Beltran, Padilla, Guzman, Perez; Marin
Atletico San Luis possible starting lineup:
Sanchez; Dominguez, Arteta, Garcia; Rodrigo, Guemez, Chavez, Vitinho; Zaldivar, Murillo, Villalpando
We say: CD Guadalajara 2-1 Atletico San Luis
Atletico San Luis performed very well in their opening game, and they really should have taken more, so they are likely to give Guadalajara a very tough test on Saturday evening.
That said, the hosts were a far superior side last season, and they recorded a win in their first game of the season, so we expect them to follow it up with a narrow victory at the Akron Stadium.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Dominic Lund
