The Sunday action in La Liga starts with an intriguing match between Sevilla and Girona at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan.
This is a huge game for both teams as Sevilla aim to keep in the chase for the top four places and Champions League qualification while Girona hope to potentially move up to the sixth place in the table.
However, Sevilla are currently performing below expectations while Girona are finding their first season in La Liga to be very much to their liking.
Sevilla won through to the final of the Copa del Rey in mid-week, having defeated Leganes, the conquerors of Real Madrid, 2-0 at home. With the first leg having ended 1-1, this saw Sevilla progress 3-1 on aggregate.
However, nothing can gloss over the dreadful showing from Sevilla last weekend in La Liga as they went down 5-1 at Eibar. Having conceded 2 early goals, Sevilla got one back on 21 minutes but went on to concede a third before half-time and 2 additional goals in the second half.
That defeat means it is now just one win in Sevilla’s last eight La Liga games and this form is not good enough to finish in the top four.
Trends show Sevilla have not only been losing but doing so quite comprehensively having lost four of their last eight league games by 2 or more goals. The one thing they have going for them in this match is home advantage and Sevilla have lost just one of their last twenty home La Liga games but have failed to win any of their last three.
Girona come into this match undefeated in their last four games and have won two and drawn two of those matches, all of which were in La Liga.
They enjoyed a tremendous 6-0 home win against Las Palmas and followed that with an excellent 1-1 draw at Atletico Madrid. Girona also picked up a point in a 0-0 draw at Malaga before defeating Athletic Bilbao 2-0 at home last weekend.
Away from home in La Liga, Girona have lost just two of their last eleven games and have become very tough to beat. However, winning on the road has not been easy and trends show they have only won one of their last seven away games in all competitions.
Looking ahead to the team news and Sevilla will be without the suspended Ever Banega and Roque Mesa could come into the midfield. Nolito remains on the sidelines while Simon Kjaer and Sebastien Corchia are rated as doubtful. Gabriel Mercado returns from suspension and should start in defence.
Girona will be without Pablo Maffeo is suspended which means Aday Benitez should start the match at right wing-back. Jose Raymundo Luis Suarez is injured and Jonas Ramalho could be preferred to Marc Muniesa in the centre of defence.
This is a difficult match to call, as Sevilla should have too much for Girona, especially at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan but the visitors have done well in recent away games, especially Atletico Madrid. Sevilla could nick this by a single goal but don’t be surprised to see Girona keep things tight in an attempt to take a point.