Lavanini last played in a 26-24 home win over South Africa in August when he suffered a knee injury that required surgery.
Martin Landajo and Nicolas Sanchez, nominally Argentina's first choice halfback pairing, start in place of Tomas Cubelli, who is recovering from a knee injury, and Juan Martin Hernandez while centre Matias Orlando and wing Matias Moroni swap places.
In the pack, blindside prop Enrique Pieretto makes his first start and veteran back-row Juan Manuel Leguizamon plays at number eight.
Argentina will be looking for a fifth victory over England, who are fielding a virtual reserve side with 15 of their leading players on tour with the British and Irish Lions in New Zealand, and first since 2009.
England have won 15 and drawn one of their 20 meetings with the Pumas since a 1981 tour of Argentina.
The teams, drawn in the same 2019 World Cup group, meet again in a second test in Santa Fe on June 17 and also face each other in London in November.
Team: 15-Joaquin Tuculet, 14-Matias Moroni, 13-Matias Orlando, 12-Jeronimo de la Fuente, 11-Emiliano Boffelli, 10-Nicolas Sanchez, 9-Martin Landajo, 8-Juan Manuel Leguizamon, 7-Javier Ortega Desio, 6-Pablo Matera, 5-Tomas Lavanini, 4-Matias Alemanno, 3-Enrique Pieretto, 2-Agustin Creevy (captain), 1-Lucas Noguera Paz
Replacements: 16-Julian Montoya, 17-Santiago Garcia Botta, 18-Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 19-Guido Petti, 20-Leonardo Senatore, 21-Gonzalo Bertranou, 22-Juan Martin Hernandez, 23-Ramiro Moyano
(Reporting by Rex Gowar; Editing by Ken Ferris)
