Santos Laguna will host Pumas at Estadio Nuevo Corona on Thursday 22 October at 05:10, and the timing matters because the home side have arrived with momentum. They beat Querétaro 5-0 at home to post a fifth consecutive league win, with Tahiel Jimenez scoring a hat-trick in a performance that has pushed Santos into the spotlight for this Santos vs matchup.
That is why the market is treating Santos Laguna as the side to back despite Pumas winning the previous meeting 4-0 at Olimpico Universitario. In the last 10 head-to-head meetings, Santos have six wins, one draw and three Pumas wins, and the numbers around this fixture help explain the lean: Santos average 1.5 goals from 5.2 shots on goal and 14.6 attempts, while their opponents average 1.2 goals. Pumas, for their part, come in after a 2-1 away win over Atlante F.C. at Estadio Quintana Roo, with Juninho scoring twice, but their league line reads 3 wins, 3 losses and 4 draws. That contrast is the reason the home side are listed at 0.0 on the Asian Handicap, a setup that lets a bet on Santos at 1.71 return if they win and give money back if the game finishes level.
The confirmed lineups add another layer to the case. Santos Laguna were listed in a 3-4-3 with Carlos Acevedo, Franco Pardo, Felipe Sanchez, Efrain Orona, Mauricio Cuevas, Facundo Caseres, Fran Villalba, Diego Gonzalez, Eduardo Aguirre, Tahiel Jimenez and Ezequiel Bullaude. Pumas were listed in a 4-3-3 with Keylor Navas, Rodrigo Lopez, Nathan Silva, Ruben Duarte, Pablo Bennevendo, Pedro Vite, Adalberto Carrasquilla, Cesar Huerta, Juninho, Uriel Antuna and Robert Morales. Santos also bring useful attacking spread into the game, with Tahiel Jimenez on five goals, Ezequiel Bullaude on three, Fran Villalba on two and Mauricio Cuevas and Bullaude on three assists each.
The friction is obvious: Pumas already showed they can punish Santos, but the form line is moving in the opposite direction now. Santos average 51.2% possession and 7.5 corners per game, while Pumas average 47.4% possession and concede 1.6 goals from 13.0 attempts. Best betting sites make the home pick a 58.5% chance to cash, and the tipsters estimate it at 65-70%, so the next question is not whether Santos can create chances. It is whether their five-match surge holds long enough to overturn the memory of that 4-0 defeat when the teams meet again on Thursday night.
