Sports Mole previews Thursday’s Leagues Cup clash between Tigres and Puebla, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
Tigers start their League Cup campaign with a match against Puebla at Shell Energy Stadium on Thursday morning.
Both teams have recorded mixed results in their recent outings, but we are nonetheless expecting a very close encounter.
Match Preview
© Imago
Tigres continued their strong start to the season with a 3-0 demolition of Santos Laguna at the Estadio Laguna on Sunday.
Veljko Paunovic‘s men took the lead just after the hour mark thanks to Andre Pierre Gignac before the goals of Ozziel Herrera And Nicolas Ibanez put the result beyond doubt.
As a result, Los Auriazules move up to third place in the Liga MX standings, level on points with Pumas and Cruz Azul in a three-way battle for supremacy.
The next challenge will be to face an opposing team that has not won any of the last six editions of this encounter, in all competitions, since the beginning of last year.
After a tough mission against Inter Miami on Thursday, the Tigres are now looking for a morale-boosting victory in Houston.
Puebla suffered a third defeat in four matches, falling 2-0 to Inter Miami in Sunday’s game at Chase Stadium.
Jose Manuel de la Torre‘s men were behind just 10 minutes into the match thanks to Matias Rojasthe opener of, after which Luis Suarez Things were wrapped up with 18 minutes to go.
This follows a 2-1 defeat to Atlas which left Los Camoteros 13th in the Liga MX standings with four points from as many league games so far.
Wanting to avoid what would be a second consecutive elimination in the Leagues Cup group stage, Puebla know that any less important victory in this match could mean the end of their cup adventure.
Tigers form (all competitions):
Puebla Leagues Cup Form:
Puebla Form (all competitions):
Team News
Ozziel Herrera and Nicolas Ibanez will both be in the running for a place in Tigres’ starting XI, having performed well as substitutes last time out.
Sebastian Cordova clinched victory in the March clash between Thursday’s opponents and will be looking to make the difference again.
Diego Reyes recently left Puebla as a free agent and the goalkeeper is not available for selection in this one.
Before Lucas Cavallini will need to be in top form if his side are to emerge victorious after scoring four of their last five goals.
Possible composition of the Tigers:
Tapia; Garza, Reyes, Pizarro, Aquino; Carioca, Gorriaran; Cordoba, Vigon, Flores; Gignac
Possible composition of Puebla:
Jimenez; Ferrareis, Gularte, Orona, Rodriguez; De Buen, Castillo, Herrera; Cavallini, Velasco, Orméno
We say: Tigres 3-1 Puebla
Puebla have been poor at both ends of the pitch of late and we don’t see them getting a positive result here. We think Tigres will come out on top with a comfortable win at the final whistle.
Data analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player statistics up to an hour before kick-off, suggested that the most likely outcome of this match was a Tigers win with a probability of 62.39%. A draw had a probability of 20% and a victory for Puebla had a probability of 17.62%.
The most likely score for a Tigers the victory was 2-1 with a probability of 9.89%The most likely scores for this outcome were 2-0 (9.38%) And 1-0 (8.73%). The most likely score was 1-1 (9.2%)while for a Puebla it was winning 1-2 (4.85%).
