Valencia and Rayo Vallecano will meet this Saturday in what is a crucial La Liga clash with the home side five points off their weekend opponents who are so far battling it out for a place in Europe right now.
It’s been a fantastic season for Vallecano in their first season back in the Spanish top flight and as of now, they are turning over the odds greater than many sides around Europe with the club previously expected to battle it out for relegation.
Training with a smile 🔛 pic.twitter.com/r88Pjv5GGx— Valencia CF (@valenciacf_en) November 25, 2021
Training with a smile 🔛 pic.twitter.com/r88Pjv5GGx
They are now in sixth, however, and remain competitive in keeping up this trend.
If the club are to make it into the Europa Conference League next year and finish in a top six spot, it’s these games in which they can’t afford to lose. Andoni Iraola’s men have done exceptionally well beating the lesser teams like Levante and Elche, and most recently, they defeated Mallorca 3-1.
What makes the matters all the more impressive for the newly-promoted side is the fact they tend to see plenty of different goalscorers turn up when they rack up the goals.
The elite force of Radamel Falcao is still in motion, but Sergio Guardiola Navarro, Oscar Tejo and Alvaro Garcia Rivera were all the difference against Mallorca.
Just before this clash, Vallecano fell to defeat to Real Madrid but also lost to Barcelona not long before this victory. All in all, they are very deserving of a sixth-placed spot right now and with 22 goals scored and only 15 conceded in 14 games, it’s been a magnificent season for them.
As for Valencia, it’s been another season of struggles so far for them and it doesn’t seem to be getting any easier for the side sitting 10th in the table as they have failed to break into the top 10 this season and are not on course to do so at the moment.
On the other hand, Valencia have put in two relatively decent performances in their past two games, drawing with then-league leaders Real Sociedad just after drawing in an astonishing 3-3 game with the champions, Atletico Madrid.
Their home form has also been pretty good as well, beating Villarreal here two weeks ago and only losing to Real Madrid on home soil in the 2021/22 season.
With Valencia’s home form, Forebet predicts a win for them here in a game that will see over 2.5 goals.