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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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//Sportsradar - @originalworks