Real Valladolid vs Real Sociedad 13/09/20

13 September 2020

Estadio José Zorrilla is the venue as Real Valladolid take on Real Sociedad on the opening matchday of the 2020/21 La Liga season.

Delivering action from the get-go, Valladolid had racked up a five-game unbeaten La Liga home run at the beginning of last season (W2, D3), conceding one goal or less in each of those matches. Often a well-organized unit, ‘Los Pucelanos’ boasted the division’s fifth-best defensive home record last season, conceding an average of 0.78 goals per La Liga home fixture. Indeed, four of their five top-flight home triumphs in 2019/20 saw them shut out their visitors. But, Sergio González’s men established themselves as ‘stalemate specialists’ last term, playing out ten draws from 19 La Liga home outings – more than any other side in the Spanish top tier.

Meanwhile, despite producing an indifferent league campaign last season (W16, D8, L14), Real Sociedad managed to qualify for the Europa League. The visitors enjoyed a solid finish to 2019/20, suffering just one defeat in the last six La Liga games of the season (W2, D3), with five of those matches seeing both sides on the scoresheet. In fact, the ‘both-teams-to-score’ theme was somewhat Real Sociedad’s trademark on the road the last term, as 12 of their 19 La Liga away fixtures saw them score and concede (63.16). The same scenario may take place here, considering five of their previous six competitive H2Hs held in Valladolid have seen both teams score, with four featuring over 3.5 total goals.