Alavés and Sevilla face each other in Mendizorroza in LaLiga with the albiazul goal of get hooked on salvation and the Seville intention of clinging to the fight for the league title.
The Vitorians return to their hometown, where they won their last duel against Valencia, and they do so after taking a valuable point in Getafe, the first away from home since the arrival of José Luis Mendilibar.
The Basque team is beginning to look more like the fierce and intense teams of the Biscayan coach, but it still has important gaps, especially in front of goal.
The scoring chances it generates are not many, so the effectiveness of the babazorros should be greater if they want to beat their rivals.
Here Joselu Mato plays a fundamental role with 12 goals in his private account.
The casualties and the sanctions will force the Alavesistas to change the “eleven & rdquor; and it is possible that Mendilibar will give up on the same idea of keeping three players in midfield, as he has repeated in the last three games.
Precisely that area is the most punished for this duel due to the casualties of Senegalese Mamadou Loum due to suspension and Tomás Pina with muscular discomfort that has prevented him from training these days.
Toni Moya and Pere Pons are candidates to take his place and accompany Gonzalo Escalante in a key area to be able to successfully complete the pressure and the ball out of a team that appreciates not having to travel many meters to reach the other goal.
Martín Aguirregabiria will be another of the casualties after a bad night that has left him weakened for this Friday, although in recent days it is the Argentine Nahuel Tenaglia who occupies the right wing.
Jason Remeseiro could recover the right flank and Manu Vallejo chooses to accompany Joselu at the top.
Sevilla appears in Vitoria morally and sportingly relaunched after its convincing victory last Sunday at the Sánchez-Pizjuán (2-1) in the derby against Betis, which comfortably maintains it as second in the standings, now with eight points ahead of the third, precisely his ‘eternal rival’, and six ahead of the leader, Real Madrid.
Lopetegui’s team is the most solvent in the tournament at homecondition in which of his thirteen appearances he has won ten games and only conceded three draws, but as a foreigner, without having bad numbers, he has chained the last three trips without winning, although he did not lose either, since his last defeat in LaLiga dates back to the 2-1 conceded at the Santiago Bernabéu on November 28.
Later they won as visitors in Bilbao and in Cádiz, with both 1-0, and after those triumphs they tied in the fields of Valencia (1-1), Osasuna (0-0) and Espanyol (1-1), with which the The purpose now is to return to the path of victory outside the Sánchez-Pizjuán to continue strong in that second place in the tournament and maintain the dream that the leader makes occasional missteps.
To do this, the Guipuzcoan coach continues with the planning of each pending match of the footballers with whom he has a squad that has been depleted for many weeks due to injuries, covid-19, sanctions or even calls for footballers for their national teams.
On Sunday against Betis he lost Argentine playmaker Alejandro ‘Papu’ Gómez due to injury and Brazilian central defender Diego Carlos also suffered from his ailments, who could not finish the match and have a very difficult time playing against Alavés.
With Jesús Navas already recovered for the right-back after three and a half months absent due to physical handicaps, another long-term injured player, Argentine playmaker Erik Lamela, has returned to work with the group this week, but his return to the team is still hasty.
the french striker Anthony Martialwho was injured on February 20 in the match against Espanyol and was subsequently dropped from the Europa League match against Dinamo Zagreb and also on Sunday against Betis, has also joined the squad’s training these days, although with few options to reappear in this appointment.
In this infirmary count, Dutch defender Karim Rekik, who was injured on February 17 in the first leg of the European tie and has been absent since then, is out of training, while winger Suso Fernández suffers from a long-term ailment who suffered last October in the ankle.
By contrast, French central defender Jules Koundé and Argentine winger Lucas Ocampos are now availablewho were dropped on Sunday due to suspension against the Verdiblancos and who have great options to resume ownership.
Likely lineups
Alaves: Pacheco; Tenaglia, Laguardia, Lejeune, Duarte; Moya, Escalante, Jason, Rioja; Vallejo and Joselu.
Seville: Bond; Jesus Navas, Koundé, Fernando, Acuña; Gudelj or Delaney, Joan Jordan; Tecatito Corona, Rakitic, Ocampos; and En-Nesyri.
Referee: Alberola Rojas (Castilian-Manchego Committee).
Stadium: Mendizorroza.
Hour: 9:00 p.m.