Chivas visits Monarcas Morelia in a must-win game for Rojiblancos

Chivas Guadalajara will play its last card on Saturday visiting Monarcas Morelia in a must-win game for the Rojiblancos.

Essentially, it is now or never for Chivas, who find themselves on the verge of elimination. The Rebaño Sagrado are winless in their last six across all competitions and have to earn at least 10 points from their remaining four games to have any chance of making the Liguilla.

To their good fortune, however, they will be facing one of the worst teams in the competition, Monarcas Morelia. The side from Michoacan has had a horrific campaign, winning just one game all season, and is sitting 16th in the standings with only eight points. Like Chivas, Monarcas Morelia currently find themselves in a stream of six games straight without a win in all competitions.

Monarcas Morelia vs Chivas Guadalajara Game Center

Same old, same old in Guadalajara

Even with a change of manager, things didn’t get any better for Chivas last week, losing 1-0 to Lobos BUAP at the Estadio Akron. It’s looking increasingly like Chivas’ season will be coming to a premature end again unless they get the win at Morelia.

In order to do that, however, they are going to need to start scoring goals. One of the biggest problems for Chivas this season has been their offense. They are currently the third-worst offense in the league, only behind Querétaro and Veracruz. Even Monarcas Morelia has scored more goals than Chivas this season. In total, Chivas has been kept scoreless in five of its last six games in all competitions.

Both teams have had their struggles

Apart from just having an overall bad season, one of the most telling things about this Monarcas Morelia team has been its inability to win at home. Traditionally, Morelia is known as one of the toughest teams to visit, but lately, they’ve seen their luck at home disappear. Most recently, Morelia is winless in its last six at the Estadio Morelos, including defeats to Monterrey, Xolos de Tijuana and Club León.

Chivas, though, has been a disaster away from Guadalajara. They’ve actually lost three of their last four as the visiting team and have not won in their last seven. Their last win outside of Guadalajara was actually against Cruz Azul in Week 2 action.

Michoacan always feels like home for Chivas

Obviously, with both of these teams playing terrible football, something has to give. If we take a look at the last head-to-head meetings between these two teams, we do notice a pattern in favor of Chivas, especially in games taking place at the Estadio Morelos. In fact, perhaps it’s the proximity of Michoacan to Jalisco, but Chivas hasn’t felt out of place in Morelia for a couples of seasons now. Guadalajara has gone four straight games without losing against Morelia in Michoacan and has just one defeat in its last 11 visits to Monarcas across all competitions.

In the last few seasons, Chivas has won in five of the last seven meetings with Morelia in their home ground and three of their last four straight up.

My take on the game...

I do believe that despite all the problems Chivas is having this season that they are a better team than Monarcas Morelia. Though it is tough to imagine Chivas making the Liguilla at this point of the season, it doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be able to compete against a lower-quality opponent like Monarcas. As such, I’m going with a Chivas win here, and I’ll take the UNDER as well, considering just how bad both teams have been at scoring goals.