Sportsradar's preview of La Liga gameweek 19 - Part two
Levante - Celta Vigo
Levante has probably just forgotten the last game at the Camp Nou. Nobody expected anything from them, and they didn’t even be close either with a 3-0 loss. Home at Estadi Ciutat de València they have been surprisingly bad considering their away streak where they have taken clearly more points than home, in the last period. Just two points in the last five games at home, and eight points away is something Levante has to change if they want to survive in this league. Luckily for the team from Valencia José Luis Morales, Enis Bardhi and Jose Campaña will be back for this game.
Enis Bardhi has really impressed this season, and Levante will look much better offensively with him than without. In this game Levante will not get an easy match as Celta Vigo is the visitors. Celta Vigo earned a well deserved 2-2 draw against Real Madrid at home last weekend in a great game from Balaídos. It’s very strange to know Celta Vigo is just placed as number 15 when you know the potential of the team, and how they played against Real Madrid. Iago Aspas continued his great form and was the MOTM with an outstanding performance which led to a draw.
Celta will go into this game without any injuries or suspensions while Levante will be without Chema, Álex Algeria, Roger and Iván López. This is not an easy game to predict as both teams can be very inconsistent and when you see Celta so good against Real Madrid, but so low at the table it’s hard to predict something. Maybe a 1-1 draw in a very important match for both teams.
Alavés - Sevilla
This could be a very entertaining game. After De Biasi left and Abelardo Fernàndez took over Alavés has been very fun to watch. Except the 2-0 loss against Athletic Club at the San Mamés have three victories in the last five league-games including 3-2 away to Girona, 2-0 home against Las Palmas and a 1-0 victory in a vital match against a rival for the relegation-spot. Munir has showed his great potential and now also Alavés has signed the Swedish-striker John Guidetti on loan for the rest of the season from Celta Vigo, so this could probably be his first league-game for Alavés.
The visitors Sevilla will come into this game a bit heartbroken after the 5-3 loss at home against Real Betis in the crazy Sevilla-derby Saturday night. Sevilla is in a bad form with four games without a victory in the league, and just one draw against Levante at home. This game I think will be pretty fun to watch with attacking football from both sides unless the new Italian-manager Vincenzo Montella changes his plans after the horrendous loss last weekend. I will go for a 2-2 draw in this game, and there is no new important injuries or suspensions. Sevilla will still be without Daniel Carriço and Nicolas Pareja.
Espanyol - Athletic Club
Life is starting to get good again if you’re an Espanyol-fan. Two 1-0-victories in a row against Atlético Madrid and Málaga sending Espanyol away from the worst relegation fight. In this game they will play a team that hasn’t lost in seven games and with three victories in the last four games. Athletic Club is now starting to look good and earned a very deserved 2-0 win against Alavés after goals from Xabier Etxeita and Aritz Aduriz.
For the home team Óscar Duarte and Adrián López will miss the game while Athletic Club will still be without Mikel Balenziaga and longtime injured Iker Muniain. I don’t think it will be a very fun game to watch as a neutral and I am expecting not a lot of goals, so my prediction is a 1-0 victory in favour Athletic Club.
Real Sociedad - Barcelona
Maybe the big game of the weekend or a «partidazo» called in Spain. A game at the Anoeta between Real Sociedad in a awful spell against the leaders Barcelona. It was almost ten years (!) since Barcelona last won a game at the Anoeta back in 2007 after a 2-0 win before they won in January in the last meeting between the teams after a Neymar-goal in Copa del Rey. This is a place Barcelona is struggling a lot, and hopefully La Real will make things difficult for Barca in this game with great attacking football and making this game as good as possible.
Eusebio Sacristán will lead his La Real against his former club where he was manager for the Barca B some years ago. In worst case Eusebio could be sacked if they have another bad game here, so this is very important for La Real. Barca will play this game knowing they have a very solid lead down to Atlético Madrid. If Atlético Madrid win their game against Eibar at Ipurua it will be a six points lead that will still be very comfortable if Barca drop points here.
The new star-signing Philippe Coutinho will not be able to make his debut here due to injury, but Samuel Umtiti is getting closer and closer for a return which will allow Javier Mascherano to leave to China. Finally it is also starting to look like Barca finally has got Yerry Mina from Palmeiras after many weeks with speculations. Real Sociedad will play this game without any injuries or suspensions, and after another bad performance against Leganés last weekend they will probably need their whole squad available to be able to earn something from here. I also think this will be an open match like the history betweens this two teams, and I will go for a 3-1 Barca win.
Real Betis - Leganés
Green and white rules in Sevilla after Saturdays crazy game where Real Betis won 5-3 at the Estadio Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán. Things are maybe starting to look better again for the Betis team very many have been so entertained by this season. Before the winter break they had also a game at home against Athletic Club where they maybe didn’t deserve to loose. Rubén Castro has now returned from China and Betis will in this match play the last game of the round against a very solid team Leganés from Madrid.
Leganés has impressed a lot this season with their solid defense and has just conceded 14 goals in 17 matches. Leganés is right now the place above Real Betis, so if they loose here it will switch and Leganés will fall a bit down from their place as number nine at the table. Leganés will miss Darko Brašanac and Alexander Szymanowski, but the attacker Nordin Amrabat will return into this game from his suspension.
Real Betis will still be without Antonio Sanabria who has been injured a while now and Joel Campbell as the manager Quique Setién will continue his three-game suspension. This will not be an easy game for Real Betis. They will be favourites, but if they want something from this game they have to be very good offensively to break down the solid Leganés-defense and I go for a 1-0 Betis-win in this rounds last game.
Feel free to leave a comment!
//Sportsradar - @originalworks
Will root for Alavés since Guidetti has just joined them on a loan. Really hope the Guidetti will be ordinary striker and that his form will rise, we need him in form for WC this summer!
@Originalworks
Guidetti got some qualities you'll need for the world cup this year, no doubt about that! I think his move to Alavés is a smart decision, he needs to play regularly to develop. What kind of expectations do you have for Sweden in the world cup? @anderssinho
@hopen19 we are the underdog of the group which suits us perfectly. But we heavily depend on some of our players like Forsberg and Ekdal.
Ekdal have been having problems with injuries and now when Jacob Johansson also got injured against Italy some middfielder have to step up before the WC.
And then we have the "issue" if Zlatan should play again or not. I frankly think we are better without him because he doesn't wanna the hard work as all the other players in Sweden do.
Hopefully we have players that get to play regulary and have nice form, then I think we might be able to go through the group stage. But realistically I'm just happy we are at the WC again :D
Think actually Iceland have a greater change to go through then us.
I'm really looking forward to watch Forsberg. Great player. I agree with you on the Zlatan case, but still think Janne Andersson will find a place for him in the squad. He can't resist having a super sub as Zlatan. Will give Sweden an extra dimension.
Sure, if Zlatan can agree on a role on the bench he might be useful, But I'm not sure about that.
Yeah Forsberg is a unique player. His development is kinds amazing
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He flopped at Liverpool and took one of the worst corner kicks in history. However it is good to see Aspas now having success and I hope he continues it this week.
Yeah, Aspas has been one of the best players in La Liga this season. Remarkable to see how he has develop since his time in Liverpool. @jclark
Another great piece @hopen19, on a totally uninteresting subject :)
What is the main differences between the national leagues, if you are to give them some characteristics? What league do you think is the best in the world? Will you cover any Chinese football, Shandong Luneng Taishan F.C. in particular?
Thanks @driftnerd! Oh that's a tough one, it's quite difficult to separate between the leagues with only a few words. It's sad to say, but i haven't had time to follow Chinese football lately. Do you support Shandong Luneng Taishan F.C.? If so, you're one of a kind following both Newcastle and Shandong Luneng Taishan F.C. :)
Don't forget about York City FC.