The penultimate game to be played in the Spanish La Liga on the 14th of August is between Valencia and Girona.
The match will be played at the Estadio de Mestalla and the hosts finished 9th in La Liga last season while Girona came up from the Segunda Division having won the playoffs despite finishing sixth in the table.
Preparando de las suyas… 😉 @hugoduro14 pic.twitter.com/8yHwTkmWFJ— Valencia CF (@valenciacf) August 9, 2022
Preparando de las suyas… 😉 @hugoduro14 pic.twitter.com/8yHwTkmWFJ
Valencia come into the game having finished their preseason with a 2-1 win over Atalanta. The victory ended a run of 3 games without a win in preseason for Valencia and they were defeated 5-2 by Stuttgart and 1-0 by Castellón.
There was also a 0-0 draw at Nottingham Forest of the English Premier League.
Trends show Valencia struggled to win games towards the end of last season and they have recorded only 1 win from their 9 most recent La Liga fixtures.
The victory came at the end of the campaign at home against Celta Vigo but any chance of European qualification had long gone. Despite finding wins difficult to achieve, Valencia were hard to beat and they have lost just 3 of their last 13 La Liga matches.
Home form shows Valencia have been finding life tough in-front of their own fans in La Liga and they have won only 2 of their last 10 games on home soil. Conceding goals has been an issue and Valencia have kept 2 clean sheets in their last 7 home league matches.
Girona make the trip to the Estadio de Mestalla having retuned to La Liga following a three year absence. They caused a shock last season by winning the Segunda Division playoffs having finished in sixth place.
Eibar, who finished in third place, won 12 more points during the regular season than Girona but it was the Blanquivermells who came out on top in the playoffs.
Girona were undefeated in 3 of their final 4 preseason games. They beat FC Andorra and Bolívar at home plus were held to a 1-1 draw at home by Real Zaragoza in their final friendly match last weekend.
Things did not end well for Girona the last time they were in the Spanish topflight. They lost 9 of their final 10 La Liga matches and each of their last 5 league games on the road.
Looking ahead to the team news and Valencia will be without the injured trio of Maximiliano Gómez, Gabriel Paulista, and Marcos de Sousa. New signings Hugo Duro and Samu Castillejo could both be involved.
Girona also have three players on the treatment table, with Borja Garcia, Ibrahima Kebe, and Bernardo Espinosa all unavailable. Miguel Gutiérrez is expected to make his debut having signed from Real Madrid.
Valencia will see this as a good opportunity to get off to a winning start this season. Girona will make life tough for the hosts and could score a goal but we expect Valencia to score a couple of goals themselves on their way to victory.