On Sunday, 14th April, as part of the 31st round of the Spanish Primera, Real Sociedad will host Almería. Imanol Ilguasily's team currently holds the sixth-place position in the league table, outpacing Valencia by five points while Almería has settled in the depths and has already reconciled itself to the inevitability of relegation.
Real Sociedad: Remiro; Traore, Zubeldia, Le Normand, Galan; Zakharyan, Zubimendi, Merino; Becker, Oyarzabal, Barrenetxea.
Almería: Maximiano; Pubill, Montes, Chumi, Centelles; Viera, Gonzalez, Robertone; Ramazani, Baptistao, Embarba.
The showdown is set to take place in San Sebastian at the Reale Arena.
Real Sociedad exerted significant effort in the Champions League, to no avail: the Basques couldn't resist PSG, led by Kilian Mbappé, who scored three out of four goals for the red-blue in the 1/8 finals (1:4 on aggregate). Having dropped out of the premier continental championship, Ilguasily's disciples disappointed in the Copa del Rey as well, getting knocked out in the semi-finals by Mallorca. Finally, the host's last goal is to finish in the top six in the championship, which will give them the right to a lower-ranked European cup.
Thus, Sociedad achieved three victories in a row: defeating Granada (2:3), Cadiz (2:0), and in the last round against Alavés with a score of 0:1, thanks to Pacheco's lone goal; all opponents were from the bottom of the league table. In this season, the white-blue team accumulated 23 points from 14 home championship matches, achieving six victories, marking the ninth-best record in the division.
Occupying the last place in the standings, with a solitary victory this season - a 0:1 win over Las Palmas - Almería has already accepted its impending relegation. The gap from the 17th positioned Celta is 15 points and it would take nothing short of a miracle for them to overcome this handicap, even from a mathematical perspective.
Rather than building on their breakthrough against Las Palmas, the Andalusians suffered a crushing defeat to Osasuna at home in the last round (0:3). Few should be surprised that the striped team ranks only 19th in the total number of points achieved away from home: only 5 in 15 contests. Moreover, Almería has conceded more goals than any other team in the current campaign (60 in 30 rounds).
Real Sociedad has won the last three encounters between these teams, including the first-round match (1:3).
Real Sociedad, aiming for a top-six finish, stands a chance to secure three points tonight against the league's outsider. Almería has already lost any chance of survival and is merely seeing out the season for their pleasure. The visitors' personnel losses are complicating the coaching staff's situation, hence, a confident bet is on Basque's triumph with a handicap of -1.5.
Almería consistently concedes at least two goals per away game, while the hosts have picked up pace in recent weeks and were on target six times in the last three rounds. I'll bet on the striped team's individual total of more than 1.5 goals.
As the hosts will maintain the initiative throughout and more actively attack, it's safe to bet on Ilguasily's charges winning the corners.
Almería will have to defend a lot, leading to inevitable fouls - expecting a win from the underdog on yellow cards.
I'm predicting an exact score of 2:0 in favour of Real Sociedad.
# | Team | P | W | D | L | GD | G | PTS | |
1 | Barcelona | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 13:3 | 12 | |
2 | Real Madrid | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 7:2 | 8 | |
3 | Atl. Madrid | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 6:2 | 8 | |
4 | Villarreal | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 9:7 | 8 | |
5 | Girona | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 7:4 | 7 | |
6 | Alaves | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5:3 | 7 | |
7 | Osasuna | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | -2 | 5:7 | 7 | |
8 | Celta Vigo | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 10:9 | 6 | |
9 | Leganes | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3:3 | 5 | |
10 | Mallorca | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2:2 | 5 | |
11 | Rayo Vallecano | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -1 | 4:5 | 4 | |
12 | Real Sociedad | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -1 | 3:4 | 4 | |
13 | Ath Bilbao | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -1 | 3:4 | 4 | |
14 | Espanyol | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -1 | 2:3 | 4 | |
15 | Valladolid | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -9 | 1:10 | 4 | |
16 | Getafe | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1:1 | 3 | |
17 | Betis | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | -2 | 1:3 | 2 | |
18 | Las Palmas | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | -3 | 4:7 | 2 | |
19 | Sevilla | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | -3 | 3:6 | 2 | |
20 | Valencia | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | -4 | 3:7 | 1 | |
1 | Osasuna | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5:3 | 7 | |
2 | Barcelona | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9:1 | 6 | |
3 | Real Madrid | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5:0 | 6 | |
4 | Celta Vigo | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5:2 | 6 | |
5 | Atl. Madrid | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3:0 | 4 | |
6 | Villarreal | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6:5 | 4 | |
7 | Alaves | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2:0 | 4 | |
8 | Ath Bilbao | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2:2 | 4 | |
9 | Valladolid | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1:0 | 4 | |
10 | Girona | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4:0 | 3 | |
11 | Leganes | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2:2 | 3 | |
12 | Espanyol | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2:2 | 3 | |
13 | Mallorca | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1:1 | 2 | |
14 | Getafe | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0:0 | 2 | |
15 | Las Palmas | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3:3 | 2 | |
16 | Betis | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1:1 | 1 | |
17 | Valencia | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2:3 | 1 | |
18 | Rayo Vallecano | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1:2 | 0 | |
19 | Real Sociedad | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2:4 | 0 | |
20 | Sevilla | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1:4 | 0 | |
1 | Barcelona | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4:2 | 6 | |
2 | Atl. Madrid | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3:2 | 4 | |
3 | Villarreal | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3:2 | 4 | |
4 | Girona | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3:4 | 4 | |
5 | Rayo Vallecano | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3:3 | 4 | |
6 | Real Sociedad | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1:0 | 4 | |
7 | Alaves | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3:3 | 3 | |
8 | Mallorca | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1:1 | 3 | |
9 | Real Madrid | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2:2 | 2 | |
10 | Leganes | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1:1 | 2 | |
11 | Sevilla | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2:2 | 2 | |
12 | Espanyol | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0:1 | 1 | |
13 | Getafe | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1:1 | 1 | |
14 | Betis | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0:2 | 1 | |
15 | Osasuna | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0:4 | 0 | |
16 | Celta Vigo | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5:7 | 0 | |
17 | Ath Bilbao | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1:2 | 0 | |
18 | Valladolid | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0:10 | 0 | |
19 | Las Palmas | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1:4 | 0 | |
20 | Valencia | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1:4 | 0 |
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