Monagas SC vs Gremio
South America – Copa Libertadores
Date: Wednesday, 16 May 2018
Kick-Off at 01:30 UK/ 02:30 CET
Venue: Estadio Monumental de Maturin (Maturin).
Gremio travel to Maturin for their Copa Libertadores clash in fine form after bagging three wins and a draw in their last four outings across competitions, including a 5-0 thrashing over Cerro Porteno in early May – where Brazilians topped the Group 1 table after four games played.
They now hope to build on the success and Renato Gaucho’s men will be motivated to capitalize on the rivals’ unpredictable spell of form. Imortal Tricolor have suffered a 2-1 loss on their last trip to Botafogo, but this only ended a five-game unbeaten streak on the road too – and we don’t feel Monagas have what it takes to cause a similar upset at Estadio Monumental de Maturin.
Monagas come into the match on the back of a narrow home win over Metropolitanos, which only ended a three-game winless streak on their end – as they held Mineros de Guayana and Deportivo Anzoategui to draws and suffered a 1-0 loss at Academia Puerto Cabello. They now hope to build on the home success but outclassing the Serie A rivals should be much more of a task for Venezuelan mid-table dwellers.
Monagas vs Gremio: Head-to-head
Gremio have bagged a thrashing 4-0 win over the rivals in front of the home crowd in early April.
This will be only the second head-to-head matchup for the sides.
Gremio do seem to have more depth in quality and look to be in a much better shape at this point.
Monagas vs Gremio: Prediction
With that in mind, we do believe Gremio will come very motivated to build on their top spot and there’s little Monagas can do to hold them off. Going for an Away win thus seems more of a banker bet and we will back it at 1.55.
Monagas have been a tougher side defensively at this ground and we don’t feel we’ll see as many goals as in April, expecting a narrow win for the visitors this time around. We’ll thus stick our necks out for Under 2.5 goals FT at 1.72 and hope not to see an early goal here!
Monagas SC vs Gremio: Bet Tips
-
Away win @ 1.55
-
Under 2.5 goals FT @ 1.72.
