MADRID, 9 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Real Sociedad and CA Osasuna meet this Saturday at the Reale Arena, a duel in which the locals will seek to defend their current sixth place in LaLiga EA Sports and the visitors will aim to end their streak of three games without winning, in the course of a matchday 24 where UD Las Palmas and Valencia CF will measure their aspirations, while Deportivo Alavés and Villarreal CF will want to scare away the ghosts of relegation.
At 4:15 p.m. the prelude to their match against Paris Saint-Germain will begin in San Sebastián, which in a few days will test the style of Imanol Alguacil and his pupils in the round of 16 of the Champions League. But before that battle, the San Sebastian team will need to score points against Osasuna if they do not want to see Valencia finishing the day above them in the league standings.
Osasuna also longs for victory, as it maintains a distance of three games from relegation but is going through one of its worst league streaks, with a victory in the last five rounds. The rojillos will want to reduce the concentration of the 'txuri-urdin' team, between their fans and that important duel in the Parc des Princes. For this reason, Alguacil could rotate his squad, after having recently played in the first leg of the semifinals in the Copa del Rey.
Furthermore, Real are showing problems in attack, having gone three games without a goal (two in the League and one in the Cup) to deepen their burden this season, since in nine games they have not scored (26% of the games played). Now they will host an Osasuna team that has lost its last two league games and has only won one of its last six games in total. This has placed the Navarrese in no man's land, nine points behind seventh place and nine above relegation.
The rojillos have not won an official match in San Sebastián since 2005. Since then, the balance is seven victories for Real Sociedad and four draws. And to that we must add that Jagoba Arrasate's pupils have gone seven league games without winning at home, having achieved just two points out of a possible 21.
On the 'txuri-urdin' bench, Alguacil will not be able to count on the injured Álvaro Odriozola, Aihen Muñoz, Aritz Elustondo, Carlos Fernández, Mikel Oyarzabal, Sheraldo Becker and Kieran Tierney. Meanwhile, Arrasate will also not have Jose Arnaiz available at the Reale Arena, who suffers a hamstring injury.
ASPIRATIONS FOR EUROPE AND DISTANCE FROM BELOW
In another outstanding duel on Saturday, Las Palmas and Valencia will meet (9:00 p.m.) separated in the standings by just three points. At the beginning of the campaign, fighting for European positions was not in their plans, but now the 'ches' are seventh and the 'pio-pio' are ninth, turning this duel at the Gran Canaria Stadium into a direct fight.
Las Palmas will come into this fight after adding one of the last six possible points, although in their last six games in front of their fans they have only lost to FC Barcelona and Real Madrid. Furthermore, García Pimienta's team is still the second team with the fewest goals scored in the League (20), despite the fact that they only kept a clean sheet in one of the last four rounds.
Opposite, Rubén Baraja's men have conceded 27 goals in the League so far and are the second team that receives the fewest shots (227), only bettered in that statistic by Celta de Vigo (185). The pleasant Valencian version has been successful due to its performance away from Mestalla, having achieved three points in three of the last five games.
García Pimienta will recover Javi Muñoz, who served a suspension for a cycle of yellow cards against Granada; He is still without Eric Curbelo, injured, or Nuke Mfulu, in the Africa Cup, while Álvaro Lemos is a doubt. For his part, Baraja once again has Sergi Canós available, recovered from his injury, and Mouctar Diakhaby, who has already returned from the Africa Cup; good news to add to the presumed return of André Almeida to a squad where Thierry Correia and Diego López, both due to injury, are the only casualties.
Before these fights for the European zone, Alavés and Villarreal will open the Saturday session (2:00 p.m.) in Mendizorroza. The situation of both is relatively comfortable, far from the bottom, but winning would be taking a big step towards salvation. The 'babazorro' team is looking at the best moment of its season, having fallen in two of its last seven games and with 13 points out of a possible 21. As if that were not enough, the last two duels against Villarreal in Vitoria saw the local victory.
The 'Yellow Submarine' has gone three games without losing for the first time in this League, adding five points. Even in their last game against Cádiz, Marcelino García Toral's men kept a clean sheet for the first time since matchday 8. In fact, one of the goals of the 'groguets' is to put an end to the defensive bleeding they are experiencing this season and link for the first time 180 minutes without conceding goals.
García Plaza will not be able to count on the injured Nahuel Tenaglia, nor Carlos Benavídez nor Aleksandar Sedlar, although he will recover Quique García and Andoni Gorosabel. On the other side, Marcelino will still be without the injured Juan Foyth, Dani Parejo, Eric Bailly, Ramón Terrats, Yeremy Pino, Denis Suárez and Alfonso Pedraza.
–PROGRAM FOR DAY 23 IN LALIGA EA SPORTS.
-Saturday 10.
Alavés – Villarreal. Melero López (C.Andaluz) 14.00.
Real Sociedad – Osasuna. Diaz de Mera (CC-Manchego) 16.15.
Real Madrid – Girona. Martínez Munuera (C.Valenciano) 18.30.
Las Palmas – Valencia. Cuadra Fernández (C.Balearic) 21.00.
-Domingo 11.
Getafe – Celta. Hernández Hernández (C.Las Palmas) 14.00.
Mallorca – Rayo Vallecano. Munuera Montero (C.Andaluz) 16.15.
Seville – At. Madrid. Villanueva Churches (C.Gallego) 6:30 p.m.
Barcelona – Granada. Ortiz Arias (C. Madrid) 9:00 p.m.
-Monday 12.
Almeria – Athletic Club. García Verdura (Catalan) 21.00.