Argentina started their World Cup preparations with a 3-0 victory over Trinidad & Tobago, and they are hoping for another comfortable triumph as they prepare to face Slovenia.

Srecko Katanec’s charges were beaten by both Algeria and Uruguay, and they will want to show some improvement at Estadio Ciudad de La Plata.

After topping the South American zone of World Cup qualifiers, Argentina embarked on a four-match unbeaten run in international friendlies, defeating Bosnia and Trinidad & Tobago at home and sharing spoils with Ecuador and Romania on the road.

In spite of some pretty good results, boss Alejandro Sabella continues to be criticised for his selection choices, especially for his reluctance to include Carlos Tevez.

Argentina, nonetheless, looked pretty good in their first warm-up game against weak Trinidad & Tobago, and they will want to continue the good run when facing Slovenia.

And even with Sabella likely to make a number of changes to the starting line-up, los Albicelcestes remain 1.29 (2/7) favourites to emerge victorious.

With Lionel Messi failing to score in his second successive game for the national team, the Barcelona superstar is 1.62 (5/8) to end the poor run.

While the likes of Sergio Aguero, Pablo Zabaleta, Gonzalo Higuain and Ezequiel Garay remain injury doubts, Rodrigo Palacio and Martin Demichelis have both picked up ankle injuries in the Trinidad & Tobago game.

Probable starting line-up (4-3-1-2): Romero – Zabaleta, Garay, Fernandez, Rojo – Gago, Mascherano, di Maria – Messi – Aguero, Higuain.

Following the poor start of the 2014 World Cup qualifying campaign, the national team chiefs sacked coach Slavisa Stojanovic and appointed former boss Srecko Katanec in his place, which proved to be a very good decision.

After suffering a shock defeat to Iceland in his first competitive game, the new boss led Zmajceki to four straight victories in the qualifiers, but the team eventually missed out on a place in the play-offs.

Slovenia have since defeated Canada in a November friendly before losing to Algeria and Uruguay in March and June respectively.

Nevertheless, the team produced a decent performance in the 2-0 loss to Uruguay on Thursday and they will now attempt to build on that display when facing Argentina.

Kevin Kampl and Jan Oblak remain injury doubts, meaning Srecko Katanec could field the same side that started the Uruguay game.

Probable starting line-up (4-2-3-1): S. Handanovic – Brecko, Samardzic, Cesar, Jokic – Stevanovic, Kurtic – Rotman, Ilicic, Kirm – Novakovic.