The penultimate round of La Liga fixtures gets underway on Saturday, with European chasers Sevilla welcoming second-placed Real Madrid to the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium.
Given that Barcelona have already wrapped up the La Liga title, Real Madrid will be looking to finish as runners-up, although Atletico Madrid can also finish second.
📋 Setback in Elche after an early red card. ⚪️🔴— Sevilla FC (@SevillaFC_ENG) May 24, 2023
📋 Setback in Elche after an early red card. ⚪️🔴
As for Sevilla, they stand an outside chance of snatching the Europa Conference League spot if they take care of their own business and results elsewhere go their way.
Not so long ago, Sevilla looked destined to remain in the relegation battle until the end of the season, having made a below-par start to the campaign.
However, the Andalusians have turned things around in recent times, losing just one of their previous 10 league outings while picking up six wins.
Although Sevilla enter Saturday’s clash on the back of successive draws with Real Betis and Elche, they will fancy their chances of causing Real Madrid problems at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium.
After all, Sevilla have lost just two of their last 15 home games across all competitions, securing 11 victories in the process.
Real Madrid, on the other hand, have been wildly inconsistent of late, recording six wins and five defeats in their last 11 league encounters.
It is also worth noting that Los Blancos have suffered three successive away defeats in La Liga, with four losses coming in their previous five away league games.
Following a 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Manchester City, Real Madrid lost 1-0 at Valencia before returning to winning ways with a 2-1 victory over Rayo Vallecano on Wednesday.
As a result, Carlo Ancelotti’s men have lost just 12 of their previous 74 La Liga clashes, so they will be confident of getting the better of Sevilla.
Head-to-head: Real Madrid have avoided defeat in each of their last eight meetings with Sevilla, picking up seven wins along the way.
Given that 17 of the past 20 meetings between Sevilla and Real Madrid have produced over 2.5 goals, Saturday’s clash looks destined to be a high-scoring affair.
Team news: Sevilla will be without injured pair Marcao and Tanguy Nianzou this weekend, while Joan Jordan remains a doubt for the rest of the season.
Real Madrid right-back Dani Carvajal is suspended due to an accumulation of yellow cards, while Mariano Diaz is an injury doubt for Saturday.
If the recent meetings between these two sides are anything to go by, we should see plenty of goals at both ends of the pitch this weekend.
Forebet predicts that Sevilla and Real Madrid will combine for over 4.5 goals, with the visitors outscoring the hosts to claim all three points.