Deportivo Alaves vs Valencia

Estadio Mendizorrotza forms the backdrop for a high-stakes La Liga encounter between Deportivo Alaves and Valencia.

Deportivo Alaves’ quest to secure La Liga survival took a hit last weekend as a 1-0 defeat to Athletic Club knocked them down from a three-match unbeaten streak (W1, D2). As a result, they commence this matchday only a point clear of the bottom three, highlighting the importance of adding to their impressive recent record against Valencia. Indeed, they’ve won three of their last four league H2Hs (D1). However, La Liga’s second-lowest scoring home team could have problems penetrating Valencia’s backline after only netting three goals across their last nine league games at the Mendizorrotza. On the bright side, they’ve been defensively robust, conceding 2+ goals only once in their previous 12 home league outings – all of which featured under 2.5 total goals, underscoring the potential for a low-scoring fixture. 

Meanwhile, despite spending much of the season in La Liga’s lower reaches, Valencia are remarkably in contention for European qualification. Indeed, they had only accumulated 12 points from a possible 54 (W2, D6, L10) before appointing Carlos Corberan as their manager in December. Corberan has racked up nine wins from his 18 top-flight games in the dugout (D6, L3), including a 3-0 rout of Getafe in the previous round. That impressive victory extended Valencia’s sterling unbeaten streak in La Liga to ten matches for the first time since 2019. Furthermore, they’ve avoided defeat in six consecutive away league outings for the first time since 2017 (W2, D4).