Real Sociedad will travel to Germany this Thursday night to clash with RB Leipzig in the Europa League in what is set to be a close match and one that sees two sides in similar stints of form from their domestic scene.
In truth, it’s been an underwhelming campaign for Leipzig, but despite sitting sixth compared to last season's fifth-placed finish, Sociedad are also trailing a little bit behind their aims of getting back into the Champions League this season.
Full focus on Thursday 🔜🔴⚪ #WeAreLeipzig #UEL pic.twitter.com/jGiCF9WHNM— RB Leipzig English (@RBLeipzig_EN) February 15, 2022
Full focus on Thursday 🔜🔴⚪ #WeAreLeipzig #UEL pic.twitter.com/jGiCF9WHNM
Sociedad, similarly to last campaign, were putting up a fight on the La Liga front at the start of the campaign as they followed the likes of Sevilla, Real Madrid, and Atletico Madrid into an early title challenge.
Some months later, however, the club are fighting to get back into the top four and in doing so, are just a point off Barcelona and Atletico Madrid, who sit fourth and fifth, respectively.
What is quite stunning from Sociedad though, is their lack of goals at either end. In fact, other than their 4-0 loss to Real Betis in the Copa del Rey quarter-finals and their wins over Zamora and Leganes in that competition, the club have rarely played in a match with over 2.5 goals since October.
In total, an alarming 24 goals have gone in for Sociedad so far, which to put in perspective, is just one more than bottom-placed Levante and 18 fewer than Atletico in the place above them.
As a result, much attention has fallen on the shoulders of Spain star, Mikel Oyarzabal, who has 10 goals so far this campaign and alongside Alexander Isak who has seven goals, the Spanish side have a chance to threaten anyone in the Europa League.
However, with the third-best defence in La Liga, Leipzig have their work cut out to try and get a result here on home soil.
There has been a change in form for the German giants within the past few weeks, and the appointment of Domenico Tedesco seems like more than just a stable one for now.
Leipzig are sitting in fourth now following their impressive 3-1 over Koln, where Christopher Nkunku scored yet again - the Frenchman scored seven goals in six Champions League games before demotion into the Europa League.
It is set to be a close one given the form of either side domestically, and Forebet predicts a game of under 2.5 goals here and one which sees a draw.