Malaga – Valencia (La Liga)
Malaga and Valencia meet at Estadio La Rosaleda, on Saturday night, in a match for the 24th round of the La Liga. Los Boquerones are facing serious risks of relegation into Segunda Divisón, they are not putting up a fight for maintenance and haven’t scored in their last three league games. Valencia, on their turn, arrive here after being able to finally put an end to a 6-match winless run, between Copa del Rey and La Liga.
Malaga are in 20th place with 13 points, from 3 victories, 4 draws and 16 defeats, with 14 goals scored and 36 goals conceded. Malaga are winless in their last 8 La Liga matches, having lost 6 of those 8, and are starting to see the relegation to Segunda Divisón as an inevitable factor if they don’t put any kind of fight on the next matches. The team are already 7 points bellow deep in the relegation zone, and their chances of survival are even more reduced if we evaluate their offensive power, or lack of it, with the Boquerones scoring only 1 goal in their last 8 consecutive matches. In Malaga’s previous 5 home matches, the team haven’t scored a single goal, losing 3 of those 5 matches.
In their last 5 official matches, Malaga has a record of 2 draws and 3 defeats. This sequence of results started with a 1-0 defeat against Getafe. This result was followed by a 1-1 draw away to Eibar, a 0-0 draw at home against Girona, a 1-0 defeat against Las Palmas, and in their last match, a 0-1 defeat against Atletico Madrid. Juan Carlos Pérez is out due to injury.
Probable Lineup: Jiménez – Rosales, Hernández, Miquel and Ricca – Iturra, González, Keko and Castro – En-Nesyri and Ideye.
Valencia, on their turn, are in 3rd place with 43 points, from 13 victories, 4 draws and 6 defeats, with 45 goals scored and 27 goals conceded. After a 6-match winless run, 3 matches for the Copa del Rey and 3 for La Liga, Valencia were finally able to stop the rot with a victory in their local derby last weekend, against Levante. However, the three consecutive defeats in the league not only moved Los Che away from the 1st and 2nd place, but also allowed Real Madrid to get too close in the table, with the team now only 1 point above the Merengues.
It turns out that away from home, Marcelino Toral’s men are not going through a good moment, losing 4 of their last 5 games in the competition, winning the remaining one, and counting a total of 4 goals scored and 7 goals conceded. Los Che have a lot of offensive quality, especially in attacking down the lines and in counter-attack situations, with Gonçalo Guedes and Santi Mina likely being the most influential players in those situation.
In their last 5 official matches, Valencia has a record of 1 victory and 4 defeats. This sequence of results started with a 1-4 defeat against Real Madrid. This result was followed by a 1-0 defeat against Barcelona, for the Copa de Rey, a 0-2 defeat against Atletico Madrid, a 0-2 defeat against Barcelona, for the Copa del Rey, and in their last match, a 3-1 victory over Levante. Jiménez, Garay and Andreas Pereira miss out due to injury.
Probable Lineup: Neto – Montoya, Paulista, Vezo and Gayá – Parejo, Coquelin, Soler and Guedes – Zaza and Mina.
Malaga have won 2 of their last 8 direct clashes against Valencia, drawing 2 and losing 4.
Valencia | 5-0 | Málaga |
Liga Espanhola 17/18
|
Málaga | 2-0 | Valencia |
Liga Espanhola 16/17
|
Valencia | 2-2 | Málaga |
Liga Espanhola 16/17
|
Málaga | 1-2 | Valencia |
Liga BBVA 15/16
|
Valencia | 3-0 | Málaga |
Liga BBVA 15/16
|
Málaga | 1-0 | Valencia |
Liga BBVA 14/15
|
Valencia | 3-0 | Málaga |
Liga BBVA 14/15
|
Málaga | 0-0 | Valencia |
Liga BBVA 13/14
|
After the victory in the derby against Levante, Valencia gained more confidence and now faces a Malaga with few offensive solutions. With a more talented squad and with very good offensive quality, Los Che are favorites to take all the spoils here.