- Team form: Chivas are the clear form favourites and league leaders heading into Thursday’s clash with Necaxa.
- Recent form: Necaxa have mixed form and can be dangerous, despite a Chivas side in superb shape.
- Player form: Armando ‘La Hormiga’ González’s goalscoring exploits are setting the Liga MX world alight, but Necaxa will provide a tough test.
Chivas can make it seven home wins in eight in Liga MX
Necaxa will be hard to beat for Chivas on Thursday in what should be a good game between two contrasting styles, but Guadalajara have the firepower to get the victory. Javier Ruiz, a key attacking midfielder for Necaxa, is the team’s top-scorer this season and has been instrumental in providing goals and creativity, while forwards Julián Carranza and Tomás Badaloni offer additional attacking threat when fit. He can provide a focal point for this team, who are compact and tough to get at under Martín Varini, while forwards Carranza and Tomás Badaloni can hurt the opposition when available.
Chivas, on the other hand, have an all-action, high-octane, full-steam-ahead approach to attacking soccer under Gabriel Milito. They have been scoring freely with their relentless pressing style in the last few games.
Back the goals to flow
Chivas have won three of their last five Liga MX games and defeated Puebla and León 5-0, but Necaxa gave them a scare with a 3-2 home win in a thrilling encounter in January.
Guadalajara have won this matchup three times in the past five meetings, so another close result would not be a total shock and the ‘Over 2.5 goals’ option is well priced at 1.62, particularly given the attacking firepower that Milito can call upon at the moment.
Chivas are the outstanding favorites in this matchup, which is evident in the 1.69 quote for the away win, while Necaxa are as big as 4.37 to win in the outright market. The gap in form and table position suggests the favorites are rightly priced for the victory as Necaxa are not in good shape with two wins, one draw and two losses in their last five.
Necaxa will not lie down
Necaxa threat
The home side are better than their record suggests because they have been poor away, while they look a lot better when they can play on the counterattack.
Scoring and options
- Necaxa can be trusted to score because they have a reliable goalscorer in Javier Ruiz, and Chivas have Armando González leading the line, although Milito has a number of good options to play in the number ten role when González tires.
- Midfielders like Richard Ledezma, Brian Gutiérrez and Raúl Rangel can all provide goals and assists and give Chivas depth and flexibility.
Table and outlook
The table clearly shows the gulf in class between these two sides with Chivas top of the Clausura 2026 table with 31 points from 14 matches, ten wins and only three defeats. Necaxa sit in the mid-table with 17 points from 15 games.
Necaxa will have a good chance to pull off an upset at Estadio Victoria and keep their playoff hopes alive, but it’s hard to see them beating the best side in Mexico right now, particularly with Chivas coming off two 5-0 wins.
