La Liga side Real Sociedad will travel to Alicante to face fifth-tier outfit Jove Espanol in the first round of the Copa del Rey on Thursday evening.
This fixture was initially due to take place at the end of October, but it was postponed due to severe flooding and adverse weather conditions caused by Storm DANA.
Match preview
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At the time of writing, Real Sociedad's clash with Jove Espanol is scheduled to go ahead as planned, despite the former filing a lawsuit in a Madrid court requesting for a 'precautionary suspension' of this first-round tie.
Imanol Alguacil's side have made this request as they seek to avoid playing during the same week of the international break - during which they will be missing 14 players - just three days before the Basque derby against Athletic Bilbao at San Mames in La Liga.
Real Sociedad have alternated between victory and defeat in each of their last five matches across all competitions, but they entered the international break on a high after securing a hard-fought 1-0 victory against La Liga leaders Barcelona, helping them climb up to eighth in the table and to within six points of the top four.
The San Sebastian-based outfit are now hoping to put together a winning run and the three-time Copa de Rey winners will be firm favourites to come out on top against their lower-league counterparts on Thursday, even if they will be without several first-team stars.
Real Sociedad, who last won the Copa del Rey in 2019-20, are unbeaten in their last seven matches across 90 minutes in the competition, although they were defeated on penalties by Mallorca in the semi-finals last season.
Their upcoming opponents Jove Espanol, meanwhile, are preparing for their first-ever Copa del Rey match and are competing in this year's tournament courtesy of their performance in last season's Tercera Federacion campaign.
The Alicante-based club accumulated 64 points across their 34 league games to secure second place in Group Six and a place in the first round of the Copa del Rey.
Founded in 2004, Jove Espanol initially made a promising start to the current campaign, as they picked up 10 points from their opening four fixtures in the fifth tier, but they have since failed to win each of their last five matches.
Indeed, a run of four successive defeats was ended last weekend when they played out a 1-1 draw with Soneja on home soil, leaving them 13th in the table and eight points behind the summit.
Serbian coach Josip Visnjic - formerly of Hercules, Las Palmas and Granada to name a few - is now preparing for his fourth meeting as a manager with Alguacil, having won one, drawn one and lost one of his previous three with CF Fuenlabrada (two) and CD Toledo respectively while the latter was in charge of Real Sociedad B.
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Team News
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Jove Espanol's Ivan Fernandez will be hoping to force his way into the starting lineup after he came off the substitutes' bench to score in last weekend's draw with Soneja.
Alvaro Montejo is the club's top scorer this term with five goals in six games and he could lead the line, while the likes of Adrian Real, Marco di Menno, Adam Lachehab, Javi Salero and Dante are all expected to start.
As for Real Sociedad, Hamari Traore is set to miss the rest of the season with an ACL injury, while Thursday's game will likely come too soon for Benat Turrientes as he continues to recover from a foot problem.
In-demand midfielder Martin Zubimendi withdrew from the Spain squad due to a leg injury and he is unlikely to be involved on Thursday, while a host of first-team stars including Mikel Oyarzabal, Orri Oskarsson, Alex Remiro, Takefusa Kubo, Luka Sucic and Nayef Aguerd are also set to miss out.
Alguacil will be forced to call upon a number of youngsters, while the likes of Aritz Elustondo, Aihen Munoz, Urko Gonzalez, Pablo Marin and Umar Sadiq could all feature in some capacity.
Jove Espanol possible starting lineup:
Real; Di Menno, Manuel, Lachehab, Lillo, Navarro; Dante, Garcia, Salero; Fernandez, Montejo
Real Sociedad possible starting lineup:
Marrero; Odriozola, Elustondo, Pacheco, Lopez; Gonzalez, Turrientes, Olasagasti; Marin, Magunazelaia; Sadiq
We say: Jove Espanol 0-4 Real Sociedad
It is difficult to back against Real Sociedad coming out on top in this one, even if they are without a host of first-team players. Jove Espanol enter this contest on the back of a poor run of form and while they will hope to give a good account of themselves against top-flight opposition, the visitors should have few problems securing a comfortable victory.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Oliver Thomas
