La Liga: Sevilla Set to Raid the Basque for Points

Alaves vs Sevilla

Julen Lopetegui takes second placed Sevilla to the Estadio di Mendizorroza on Friday night for a vital clash with Deportivo Alaves.

Sevilla come into the game on the back of a 2-1 win over Real Betis in a spicy Seville derby while Alaves picked up a point in a 2-2 draw away to Getafe. And Lopetegui will hope his team can keep up the momentum with another victory, as they have a chance to reduce the gap between them and La Liga leaders Real Madrid to three points, before Los Blancos have a tricky Saturday meeting with Europa chasing Real Sociedad.

The hosts, coached by experienced Basque based manager Jose Luis Mendilibar, are desperate for a result too as they are currently embroiled in a relegation scrap, and need points to avoid being cut adrift.     

La Liga: Alaves vs Sevilla is the perfect opener to another great weekend of Spanish top flight football and Lopetegui will hope it gives the Sevilla fans a reason to celebrate. 

Talking Points

Draws are not enough for Sevilla

The SBOTOP football team has installed the visitors as clear favourites to win this game but recent draws away to Osasuna and Espanyol have hampered Los Sevillistas’ title challenge. Lopetegui’s team will arrive in the Basque full of confidence though, having navigated a high pressure derby win over third placed Real Betis at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan stadium. Ivan Rakitic and Munir El-Haddadi gave Sevilla a first half lead and they saw the game out pretty comfortably, Betis scoring a late consolation. Those three points kept Sevilla in the race and that’s exactly what they need to do again on Friday, with Real Madrid still setting a testing pace at the top of the table. 

Alongside Rakitic, Argentine attacking midfielder Lucas Ocampos is a world class talent and they should have too much quality for a creaking Alaves defence, while centre back Jules Kounde will fancy his chances of repelling the Alaves’ attacking threat.

Can Joselu fire Alaves to safety?

El Glorioso sailed close to the wind last season, finishing in 16^th place and eventually four points clear of the drop and now they are sweating again, currently in 19^th and four points from safety.  While last week’s draw away to Getafe may seem like a decent point, Mendilibar will have been disappointed his team failed to win all three having played an hour of the game against ten men after the hosts’ Jorge Cuenca saw red in the 32^nd minute. 

Deportivo could have dragged 15^th placed Getafe into the relegation battle, but even with a numerical advantage they only registered seven shots in the whole game and three on target. They will do well to get near that number against the 11 men of Sevilla and rely heavily on the goals of top scorer Joselu who has bagged 12. The 6ft 4in striker is full of passion and energy but I’m not sure he can save Alaves all on his own. Only two other players have scored more than once this season, midfielder Mamadou Loum and captain Victor Laguardia both hitting the net twice.

Laguardia will sit alongside Ruben Duarte in defence and he will try to keep things tight after conceding five goals in the last two outings. Alaves won their last home game, 2-1 against Valencia, but were beaten by Barcelona in their previous match at the Estadio di Mendizorroza and Laguardia knows that Sevilla will be as dangerous as the Blaugrana.   

History

Los Sevillistas have had much the better of the recent head to head Alaves vs Sevilla results, winning 12, drawing six and losing four of the last 22 encounters. In fact they have won four and drawn two of the most recent six meetings though Alaves put up a strong show in Seville earlier this season, earning a 2-2 draw.  Ocampos levelled after Laguardia had given Alaves an early lead, and when Joselu restored the underdogs’ advantage it looked like they would take all three points until Rakitic grabbed an injury time equaliser.  

Sevilla are without an away win in five, although they have lost only twice on the road this season, winning six and drawing five.

Betting Tip

The latest Alaves vs Sevilla betting odds give Deportivo Alaves a fair chance of getting a vital result with the hosts at 3.88 to win and the draw at 3.30. And while both teams equally need the points, I expect Los Sevillistas to have too much quality and, for a correct score-line I think 0-2, at odds of 7.33, will be close to the mark.

 

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