Levante – Leganés (La Liga)
Levante and Leganés open the 17th round of the La Liga on Tuesday night, with both teams facing each other at the Ciutat de València stadium. Unable to win any of the last four matches in the Spanish top flight, Levante are falling down in the league table and are starting to see the relegation zone spots increasingly closer, being only 5 points above them. Leganés, on their turn, added their fifth defeat in their last six consecutive matches, having won just one in the process.
Levante are in 15th place with 17 points, from 3 wins, 8 draws and 5 losses, with 15 goals scored and 22 goals conceded. The newly promoted side are struggling to impose themselves in the league, having won just 1 game in their last 12 matches for the La Liga, which means they have won only once since September 25. In their last match, the Granotas drew against Sevilla, at the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán by 0-0, a good result but they need to start to get better ones or, sooner or later, they might get stuck in the battle for maintenance, since they sit just 5 points above the relegation zone.
Not even at home are Levante getting good results, with team losing 4 of their last 5 league matches played here, drawing the remaining, with only 3 goals scored and 12 conceded. Although the Granotas does not concede many goals per game, they are one of the teams with less offensive power in La Liga.
In their last 5 official matches, Levante has a record of 3 draws and 2 defeats. This sequence of results started with a 0-5 defeat against Atletico Madrid. This result was followed by a 1-1 home draw against Girona, for the Copa del Rey, a 0-0 away draw against Málaga, a 1-2 defeat against Athletic Bilbao, and in their last match, a 0-0 away draw against Sevilla. Iván López, Álex Alegría, Doukouré and Rodríguez are all out due to injury.
Probable Lineup: Olazábal – López, Postigo, Pier and Luna – Campaña and Lerma – Jason, Bardhi and Morales – Unal.
Leganés, on their turn, are in 11th place with 20 points, from 6 victories, 2 draws and 7 defeats, with 12 goals scored and 14 goals conceded. Leganés tasted defeat once again in the previous round against Deportivo, since their match against Real Madrid was postponed, adding their 5th defeat in the last 6 La Liga matches. However, the team are closer to european spots than to the relegation zone, sitting with 8 points above them, and only 4 bellow 6th placed Villarreal.
This is the kind of team who shows no difference in playing at home or as a visitor, since they have won half of their points as a visitor, winning 3 out of 8 La Liga matches. However, the Pepineros have lost their last 4 consecutive away matches, conceding 8 goals and scoring only 1 in the process. Although they are the fourth team with less goals conceded in the league, they are the worst offensive side in La Liga.
In their last 5 official matches, Leganés has a record of 2 victories and 3 defeats. This sequence of results started with a 0-3 defeat against Barcelona. This result was followed by a 1-0 defeat against Celta Vigo, a 1-0 victory over Valladolid, for the Copa del Rey, and in their last match, a 1-0 defeat against Deportivo. Mantovani, Siovas and Omar Ramos are all out due to injury.
Probable Lineup: Cuéllar – Tito, Santos, Muñoz and Rico – Eraso, Pérez and Pires – Zhar, Beauvue and Amrabat.
This is the first time in the last 13 years that the two teams meet again. Both teams have are good defensively, but they are also very poor in what attacking is concerned. This contest has the potential to be very tight indeed.
