Manuel Pellegrini's Real Betis side will be looking to pick up their third league win on the bounce when they face Real Sociedad this weekend at the Estadio de Anoeta.
Following a spate of defeats to their high-flying rivals, La Real have seen their Champions League dream slowly wither in recent weeks. Imanol Alguacil will hope a win against Betis could get their La Liga ambitions back on track.
Match preview
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At the beginning of the campaign, La Real were being dubbed as title contenders. Now, it looks unlikely that the Basque side will even qualify for the Champions League.
The team's current slump follows a dismal run that has seen La Real win just one of their last nine games.
Particularly daunting for Alguacil is the fact that his side have lost their last two league outings.
Against Sevilla last time out, La Real were undone by a late strike from Youssef En-Nesyri, with the scoreline reading 3-2 at the end of the 90 minutes.
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Things look to be finally gelling between Pellegrini and his Betis side, who are currently enjoying a positive run of results.
Pellegrini's men have won four games on the bounce in all competitions, with their last win coming against Celta Viga in the league.
Sergio Canales was the man of the hour in that game, with the 29-year-old former Real Madrid man scoring a brace against the Galician outfit.
Betis are currently eighth in the table with 26 points and, for the first time this season, will be starting to wonder how far they could climb if results keep going their way.
Real Sociedad La Liga form: LLWDLL
Real Sociedad form (all competitions): LWDLLW
Real Betis La Liga form: LWLDWW
Real Betis form (all competitions): LDWWWW
Team News
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One factor in La Real's loss of form this season has been the lengthy injury layoffs to a number of Alguacil's key men, a number of whom are still unavailable this weekend.
Adnan Januzaj, Andoni Gorosabel, Jon Pacheco, Miguel Angel Moya, Luca Sangalli and David Silva are all out injured for this tie.
As for Betis, Pellegrini will be without Dani Martin, Marc Bartra, William Carvalho and Victor Camarasa, who are all currently injured.
Paul Akouokou is available again after his suspension.
Real Sociedad possible starting lineup:
Alex Remiro; Zaldua, Zubeldia, le Normand, Monreal; Guridi, Guevara, Merino; Portu, Isak, Oyarzabal
Real Betis possible starting lineup:
Robles; Emerson, Mandi, Ruiz, Gonzalez; Lainez, Rodriguez, Fekir, Canales, Ruibal; Garcia
We say: Real Sociedad 2-2 Real Betis
This game could be a real blockbuster, mainly because both sides have shaky defences and an extremely chaotic energy about them at the moment. We do not think anything will separate the two teams come the end of the game, but we recommend this one for the neutrals. Expect goals.
Top betting tip
Francis Buchanan
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Real Sociedad win with a probability of 38.44%. A win for Real Betis had a probability of 35.65% and a draw had a probability of 25.9%.
The most likely scoreline for a Real Sociedad win was 1-0 with a probability of 9.39%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.43%) and 2-0 (6.43%). The likeliest Real Betis win was 0-1 (8.98%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.3%). The actual scoreline of 2-2 was predicted with a 5.5% likelihood.
