Jagoba Arrasate's rejuvenated Osasuna side will travel to Vitoria-Gasteiz this weekend ahead of their La Liga clash with Alaves at the Estadio de Mendizorrotza on Saturday.
With just one win in their last nine league outings, Alaves, who are currently 16th in the standings, have been slowly edging closer and closer to the dreaded relegation zone for some time now.
Match preview
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Alaves boss Abelardo would be forgiven for coming into this tie with a certain degree of angst. The Gijon-born manager has seen his side concede nine goals in their last two league games.
Against Real Sociedad last time out, El Glorioso were comprehensively beaten 4-0 by a far superior outfit.
Following the game, Abelardo said: "We have to generate more in attack... In the last two games we have not been at the level we want."
However, against Osasuna this weekend, Abelardo may find three points hard to come by considering his side have only won one of their last nine games against the Navarre outfit in the league.
A win for El Glorioso would be the first time Alaves have won back-to-back home games since February 2020.
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Following their torrid start to the campaign, Osasuna have been enjoying an impressive change in fortunes in recent weeks.
Arrasate's men have won three of their last six league outings, boasting some of the best form in the entire division. Currently 13th in the table, Osasuna look to have escaped the jaws of relegation.
However, as effective as the team has been, Arrasate's side were powerless against Julen Lopetegui's high-flying Sevilla side last time out.
Losing 2-0 at El Sadar, Los Rujillos were granted a cruel reminder of how difficult it can be to put together a convincing run of form in Spain's top division.
However, there is little doubt about this weekend's clash. Three points against struggling Alaves would see Arrasate's men put some much-needed distance between themselves and the relegation dogfight going on beneath them in the table.
Alaves La Liga form: LLDWLL
Osasuna La Liga form: DWLWWL
Osasuna form (all competitions): WLLWWL
Team News
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Striker Deyverson, who proved ineffectual against La Real, could be replaced by veteran attacker Lucas Perez in the starting XI this weekend.
Rodrigo Battaglia, Javi Lopez and Rodrigo Ely are all unavailable for selection this weekend due to injury.
Arrasate will be without a number of players for this weekend's fixture.
Inaki Alvarez Goni, Ruben, Facundo Roncaglia and Jony are all out injured.
Alaves possible starting lineup:
Pacheco; Rodriguez, Laguardia, Lejeune, Aguirregabiria; Edgar Mendez, Pina, Manu Garcia, Cordoba; Perez, Joselu
Osasuna possible starting lineup:
Herrera; Nacho Vidal, Aridane, D. Garcia, Sanchez; Oier, Lucas Torro, Moncayola; Barja, Budimir, R. Garcia
We say: Alaves 0-3 Osasuna
With nine goals conceded in their last two games, we think Osasuna definitely have what it takes to make it double digits. Arrasate's men have been flying recently and we think there could be a hiding on the cards if Alaves are not careful.
Top 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 Osasuna win with a probability of 50.92%. A draw had a probability of 28.9% and a win for Alaves had a probability of 20.15%.
The most likely scoreline for a Osasuna win was 0-1 with a probability of 17.54%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-2 (11.41%) and 1-2 (8.02%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 0-0 (13.48%), while for an Alaves win it was 1-0 (9.47%). The actual scoreline of 0-1 was predicted with a 17.5% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted a 0-1 win for Osasuna in this match.
