Palermo heads Boca back to the top in Argentina

Boca Juniors went back to the top of the Argentine Clausura championship on Sunday with a 1-0 win over Arsenal while River Plate were held to a goalless draw at San Lorenzo.
Boca, who have 31 points from 15 games, have a two-point lead over River with four games to play after former Villareal striker Martin Palermo headed the only goal in the 73rd minute. Arsenal finished with 10 men after Victor Lopez was sent off in the last minute. River, who had defender Cristian Tula sent off for a second bookable offence in the 57th minute, were outplayed by San Lorenzo but escaped with a point, thanks to goalkeeper German Lux.
“We played badly and we were glad for a draw,” said River coach Daniel Passarella. “We have to improve on a number of fronts if we want to keep fighting for the championship.”
Newell’s Old Boys, who have 28 points, moved into third place after beating Instituto 2-1 away, overtaking Lanus and Gimnasia-Jujuy, who both lost at home.
Lanus went down 2-0 to arch-rivals Banfield and Gimnasia suffered a shock 1-0 defeat against bottom-of-the-table Racing Club, who had won only one of their 14 previous games.