Arsenal know the first obstacle in their attempt to claim the second promotion place from Primera B: Comunicaciones await in the playoff quarter-finals. The tie begins on the weekend of 14 November in Agronomía and will be settled on the 21st at the Julio Humberto Grondona stadium. The Sarandí club host the return because they finished higher in the regular standings.
El Viaducto arrive with the uncomfortable mixture of a strong campaign and an objective still unfinished. They collected 77 points and finished second behind champions Excursionistas after a 1-1 draw with Deportivo Merlo on the final day. That position confirms consistency across 42 rounds, but the playoff resets pressure: the points provide home advantage for the return, not an automatic place in the next stage.
Comunicaciones entered the group of eight contenders by the narrowest margin. A 1-0 victory over Talleres de Remedios de Escalada in the final round took them to 60 points and the last qualifying position. El Cartero therefore bring momentum from solving an elimination match under pressure. That emotional advantage partly offsets, at least at the start, the seventeen-point gap between the sides.
The 2026 meetings strongly favour Arsenal. They won 2-0 in Sarandí in February through goals from Matías Sosa and Uriel La Roza, then prevailed 2-1 in Agronomía in July with Luca Franco's penalty and Luciano Miño's late volley. Both fixtures nevertheless contained difficult periods. The record gives Fabián Lisa's team confidence, but it creates no regulatory advantage and cannot replace execution.
The format requires management of 180 minutes. Comunicaciones will try to use the first leg to close spaces, impose their home rhythm and travel to Sarandí with the tie alive. Arsenal must prevent promotion anxiety from producing unbalanced attacks. If aggregate scores are level, penalties decide the qualifier: there is no further reward for league position and no away-goals rule.
The bracket also contains Deportivo Armenio against Sportivo Italiano, Real Pilar against Talleres de Remedios de Escalada and Villa Dálmine against Camioneros. The higher-ranked club hosts the return in every pairing. Quarter-finals, semi-finals and the final are all two-legged, so promotion requires stable performance across several weeks and different scenarios rather than one inspired afternoon.
Arsenal's task is to convert the merit of their season into competitive authority without assuming the difference has already been collected. Comunicaciones aim to extend the survival achieved on the final day and place every obligation on the favourite. The opening leg sets the temperature, but Sarandí delivers the verdict. Across both games, more than football will be measured: the ability to manage expectation, fatigue and a minimal margin for error.
