Liga MX Guardianes Round 8 Odds & Picks: Necaxa and León a Tempting +250 Draw

• Week 8 incoming in Mexico’s 2020-21 Apertura, re-named as “Guardianes”
• Cruz Azul are the current leaders, with León training them by just two points
• See all odds and best bets for Mexico Liga MX Guardianes Round 8

As we approach Week 8 of Mexico’s Liga MX Guardianes, Cruz Azul leads the table by two points, ahead of Leon and three ahead of Pumas UNAM and Club América. This is the first section (Apertura) of Mexico’s two-stage league competition for 2020-21, with “Guardianes” being attached to the name in honor of the efforts of the nation’s health workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

We’ll list all nine games, show the odds, preview three, and offer a pick for each.

Liga MX Guardianes Round 8 Odds

All odds taken Sept  2

Pick 1: Necaxa vs León

12th-placed Necaxa will be hoping that home territory will help them quickly bounce back from a disappointing Week 7 – a 3-0 away defeat by league leaders Cruz Azul – but second-placed León will provide a tough test.

While Nexaca has conceded a relatively modest number of goals – 10 in their seven league games – they’ve found clean sheets very hard to come by, and at the other end have struggled to find the net regularly. Against a León defense that has conceded just four times so far, they will need to find some creativity that has alluded them so far this campaign – and they haven’t beaten León in their last four league meetings – but it’s worth noting that The Lightning hasn’t been defeated in their previous three home league games.

León goes into this one off the back of a narrow 2-1 home win over bottom-of-the-table Atlas, another game that was based around their sound defense rather than a potent attack – despite being second in the table they have only scored six goals. So, this will be close and probably low scoring. For me, there’s value in the draw.

Pick: Necaxa vs León to draw (+250)

Despite being second in the table León have only scored six goals.

Pick 2: Pumas UNAM vs Puebla

Third-placed Pumas are currently the only unbeaten team in the league and will fancy their chances of extending this run with mid-table Puebla this week’s visitors to the Universidad Nacional. Last week, the Pumas easily dispatched Club Tijuana, with their 3-0 win helping them keep the pressure on Cruz Azul and León. 

The Pumas good early-season form has been based on a miserly defense – six goals conceded in their seven games – but what’s interesting here is that they haven’t beat Puebla in their last three league meetings. On the flip side, Pumas haven’t been beaten in their last five home league games.

But Puebla are themselves in good form and come into this one off the back of a resounding 4-1 home win over Toluca. In order to improve upon their current mid-table position, they do need to tighten up a defense that has conceded in five of their last six games but despite losing three on the bounce prior to last weekend’s win over Toluca, it’s worth noting that all three were single-goal defeats. So, for me, the value here is with the away win, with Puebla pulling off the shock of the weekend.

Pick: Puebla to win (+310) 

Pick 3: Tigres UANL vs Guadalajara

Guadalajara are the visitors to the  Estadio Universitario on Sunday and head into this following a goalless draw with Pachuca last weekend. A win here would take them above 9th-placed Tigres in the table, but they do need to start finding the net more regularly having scored just four goals in their seven games. On the plus side, they have been fairly sound defensively, conceding just five so far.

By contrast, Tigres have scored 10 goals to date, conceding seven, and so are generally involved in more entertaining, high-scoring games. As such, Guadalajara’s sound defense versus the free-scoring Tigres attack makes for an interesting encounter, but what the visitors have to overcome though is a terrible record when playing Tigres away, having not won a single game in their last 10 meetings.

Tigres head into this off the back of a 1-1 away draw with Mazatlán but have a fine home record with a run of 12 league games at the Estadio Universitario unbeaten. For that reason, even at odds-on for the home win, there is still some value.

Pick: Tigres to win (-130)