Venezuela vs Argentina Prediction: Visitors to get back to winning ways

Venezuela welcome Argentina to Estadio Monumental de Maturin on Thursday (22:00) for a World Cup qualifier. La Albiceleste lead the way at the top of the standings with 18 points from their opening eight matches, while the hosts are sixth with 10 points.

Argentina were beaten on their last outing, however, against Colombia, whom they defeated in the Copa America final in the summer. Meanwhile, Venezuela have failed to win in their last four appearances. Read on for my Venezuela vs Argentina prediction, accompanied by match odds and team news.

Venezuela vs Argentina Odds

Venezuela are 5/1 to win this match, which gives them a theoretical chance of 16.7%. Argentina are valued at 1/2 to take the three points, giving them an implied probability of 66.7%. The draw is on offer at 11/4 (26.7%).

Both teams to score is marketed at 6/5 and over 2.5 goals is available at 11/10.

Football Odds

Team News 

After the defeat to Colombia last month, manager Lionel Scaloni could make several changes for this fixture. One of them could see Giovani Lo Celso handed a rare start. The midfielder has been in fine form since returning to Real Betis on loan from Tottenham Hotspur, netting five goals in La Liga.

Alexis Mac Allister will be hoping for a chance to start in midfield, too, after some impressive performances for Liverpool in the Premier League.

Legendary figure Lionel Messi is back in the squad after overcoming an injury that caused him some bother over the summer and into September, while there is no Angel Di Maria following his decision to retire from international football.

Manchester United's Alejandro Garnacho has withdrawn from the squad due to a knee problem, leaving Nicolas Gonzalez without any real opposition for the spot on the left flank.

It is doubtful that we will see the back four of Lisandro Martinez, Cristian Romero, Nicolas Otamendi and Gonzalo Montiel get tweaked for this occasion.

Venezuela have no fresh concerns heading into Thursday's clash, but changes could be expected as the team are winless in their last four.

Argentina -1 handicap @ 8/5

Argentina are the overwhelming favourites to win this match and rightly so, as they have won back-to-back Copa Americas with a World Cup in between. So I've had to think smart when picking out valuable markets for this match, and the first one that sticks out is for them to win with a -1 handicap.

When it comes to strength in depth, not many of their South American rivals can boast the talent that they can. In this match, Venezuela will largely depend on the players in their starting lineup to deliver a result against La Albiceleste, while Scaloni can bring more stars on from the bench if things are not going his way.

This could be a tough game for Argentina because the hosts have kept clean sheets in five of their last six matches on home soil, so the visiting attackers will need to be at their best to break down a stubborn defence.

Scaloni most certainly has the tools with the likes of Messi, Gonzalez, Lautaro Martinez and Julian Alvarez, which makes me think they can unsettle Venezuela's strong defensive form at home.

After experiencing a blip against Colombia last time out, Argentina will want to deliver a swift response to try and extend their gap at the top of the table, which Colombia reduced to two points after that defeat.

La Albiceleste's attacking options should prove too much for Venezuela to handle on Thursday, so I think backing them to win with a -1 handicap could be a shrewd selection.

Argentina to win 2-0 @ 5/1

Selection number two offers more value at 5/1 but this is a much braver market to go for. Seeing as there isn't a great deal of value in other markets pertaining to an Argentina victory, I think going for a correct score could also make for an interesting bet.

I think 2-0 could be a reasonable scoreline to go for because even though Argentina are blessed with a lot of attacking quality, we rarely see them blow teams away. Then when you factor in how good Venezuela have been defensively of late, this may not be the easiest of places to go for La Albiceleste right now.

The team could be a little bit out of sorts from the Colombia loss, which could impact their start to the game. Although, there have been a few games of late in which it has taken the second half for Argentina to find the back of the net, and I suspect we could see this play out again in Venezuela.

This could work in their favour, though, as they will work the hosts' defenders tirelessly, which could present them with better openings as the game goes on. This is when we could perhaps see their attacking players at their best and can probably profit from a couple of goals to get back to winning ways.

Offers

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