The top team in South American World Cup qualifying will face the bottom team when world champions Argentina travel to Santiago to face an out-of-form Chile. Lionel Scaloni's side booked their place in the World Cup finals in March, but for hosts Chile, it looks like a third consecutive World Cup exit.

In a forgettable campaign, Chile looked a shadow of the team that was one of the strongest in the world a decade ago, having qualified for two consecutive World Cups and won two consecutive Copa Americas. Ricardo Gareca's side have recovered from an embarrassing home defeat to Bolivia at the end of last year and have lost just one of their last four qualifiers, but they will need a minor miracle to have any chance of reaching the final.

Chile have only won two of their 14 qualifiers so far and sit bottom of the table, five points behind Venezuela for the play-off spot, and while that is not an insurmountable task, their schedule does look tough. The teams battling for seventh place are also in poor form, but Gareca's side must face Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil, as well as a trip to El Alto to face Bolivia.

A lack of attacking power has been the main reason Chile have failed in qualifying, with 14 games having yet to reach double figures for goals, nine of which have gone scoreless. The hosts' recent form against Argentina has also been nothing to get excited about, as they are winless in eight meetings since beating them in the 2016 Copa America final, scoring just four goals.

Argentina may be in a trying mood, though, having beaten Brazil 4-1 in March to book their spot. Scaloni's side are the strongest team in South America and are currently leading the region, currently eight points clear of second place after three straight wins. Travelling away from home in CONMEBOL qualifying is usually a thankless task for most countries, but Argentina performed well, earning an impressive 13 points out of 21, and another win here would set one of the best away results in CONMEBOL history under the current format.

Argentina put in a strong performance away from home in March, beating Uruguay 1-0 and showing the difference in quality between them and the rest of the continent. They can also prove their quality in some of the remaining qualifiers, which look challenging on paper, such as the home game against Colombia and the away game against Ecuador.

Chile's predicted starting lineup:

Cortes; Loyola, Maripan, Celalta, Suazo; Vidal, Echeverria, Pizarro; Osorio, Sanchez, Valdés

Argentina's predicted starting lineup:

E. Martinez; Molina, Romero, Otamendi, Tagliafico; De Paul, Enzo, Paredes; Messi, La Martinez, Alvarez