High-flying Girona will round off the calendar year with a trip to the Benito Villamarín for Thursday's clash with Real Betis.
While the visitors go into matchday 18 as the league leaders, Manuel Pellegrini's side are currently sitting in seventh position.
Match preview
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Betis may be looking forward to the short winter break and a brief chance to refresh after winning just one of their last seven matches in all competitions (D4, L2).
However, with the two losses in that period taking place in the Europa League, Los Verdiblancos head into Thursday's contest with aspirations of extending their unbeaten league run, which currently stands at 12 matches (W4, D8).
Having struggled to convert draws into victories, it was perhaps unsurprising to see Betis play out a goalless affair with Real Sociedad on Sunday – a result that represented their fourth draw in the last five La Liga matches (W1).
After going up against Real Madrid and Real Sociedad in their previous two league outings, matters do not get any easier with the current leaders set to visit Andalusia for the final match of 2023.
They can at least draw confidence from the fact that they are one of four teams yet to lose a top-flight home game this season, while they have also won nine of their last 10 competitive meetings (D1) with Thursday's opponents.
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Girona's memorable season continues to go from strength to strength after they swept past Alaves on Monday to respond to Real Madrid's 4-1 victory over Villarreal and reclaim pole position.
Artem Dovbyk and Portu found the net in the first half, before the former grabbed his second goal of the game with a 59th-minute penalty to wrap up a 3-0 victory and a fourth consecutive win in all competitions.
Having won eight of their last nine league matches since losing to Real Madrid in September, Girona head into matchday 18 with a two-point lead over Los Blancos, knowing that a win on Thursday will guarantee them top spot for Christmas.
After netting 41 times in just 17 league games, Michel's free-scoring side have registered more goals than any other team in the top flight, and they will need all that firepower if they are to break down a Betis side that boasts the third-best defensive record in the division.
They go into their final match of 2023 with hopes of claiming their first-ever La Liga victory over Betis and their first competitive win in a head-to-head match since beating Los Verdiblancos 1-0 in a second division fixture in March 2010.
Team News
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Betis remain without the services of the injured quartet of Claudio Bravo, Youssouf Sabaly, Marc Bartra and Guido Rodriguez.
Although Nabil Fekir is back on the training pitch following a lengthy layoff, he will not be ready for the tricky home fixture against the league leaders.
With Isco set to serve a one-match suspension for yellow card accumulation, Pellegrini could present Rodri Sanchez with his sixth league start of the season.
As for Girona, they are unable to call upon Toni Villa, Joel Roca, Borja Garcia, Yangel Herrera and Ricard Artero.
Ukraine international Viktor Tsygankov remains a doubt after he missed Monday's 3-0 win over Alaves with an injury issue.
If Tsygankov is unable to feature against Los Verdiblancos, Michel could decide to select an unchanged lineup for the final match of 2023.
Real Betis possible starting lineup:
Silva; Ruibal, Pezzella, Riad, Abner; Altimira, Roca; Perez, Rodri, Ezzalzouli, Willian Jose
Girona possible starting lineup:
Gazzaniga; Garcia, Lopez, Blind; Couto, Martin, Garcia, Gutierrez; Portu, Savio, Dovbyk
We say: Real Betis 1-3 Girona
Betis have avoided defeat in all eight of their home league matches this season, proving that they are a formidable force in front of their own supporters.
However, that record will not scare a fearless Girona side, and after winning eight of their last nine top-flight games, we think that the visitors will do enough to claim all three points in Thursday's contest.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
