Sevilla will be aiming to move to within three points of La Liga

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Sevilla will be aiming to move to within three points of La Liga leaders Real Madrid when they make the trip to Estadio de Mendizorroza on Friday evening to take on struggling Alaves. The visitors are currently second in the table, six points off the summit, while Alaves occupy 19th position, four points behind 17th-placed Granada on the same number of matches (26).

Regardless of the result here, Alavés will stay in the La Liga (LL) relegation zone, but they still badly need points having won just one league game since early November (D5, L8). Four points adrift of safety, they could take some solace from being only one point worse off than they were after 26 games last term, a season where they eventually finished four points above the bottom three.

A timely 2-1 win against Valencia in their last fixture here should also give them a confidence boost, and it came after their first goal before half-time in five home LL matches. While that highlights that fast starts are unusual, it’s worth noting that they’ve won all three league fixtures at Estadio Mendizorrotza in which they netted the opener this term.

Second-placed Sevilla are trying to keep the pressure on leaders Real Madrid but despite an impressive 12-game unbeaten LL run (W7, D5), including Sunday’s 2-1 derby win over Real Betis, they’re still six points adrift. If they get ahead early, they’ll expect a positive result as they’ve conceded a league-low five goals after the break in the league this term.

They’ll be taking nothing for granted though as Sevilla’s only LL away defeats this term came at Real Madrid and Granada, another side battling for survival. That said, they’re unbeaten in three trips here (W2, D1), and although none of their last six league away fixtures (W2, D3, L1) saw them net 2+ goals, they’re a dangerous outfit on the road even if they’re not particularly free-scoring.

Date: 04/03/2022
Time: 23:00
Venue: Estadio Mendizorrotza (Vitoria-Gasteiz)
Pick for this match:
“2” – @ 2.06 ( 22BET )