Following back-to-back draws with Real Madrid and Real Valladolid, 8th placed Valencia know they have a golden opportunity to return to winning ways when they entertain 16th placed Eibar at their Estadio de Mestalla on Saturday.
The lunchtime kick-off gives Valencia a chance to extend their unbeaten run in La Liga to 5 matches after they’d earlier also registered back-to-back wins against Villarreal 2-1 at home before inflicting a heavy 4-2 defeat upon Levante on the road.
Along with the top two clubs in the Spanish top flight, Barcelona and Real Madrid, Saturday’s hosts, Valencia are the only other club in La Liga to still remain unbeaten at home in this campaign, winning 4 and drawing 5 of their 9 home matches to date.
Although the draw has been prevalent so far on home turf this season, Valencia know that all three points on Saturday could lift them up into the top six if other results go their way, and having lost just 1 of their last 22 matches at home, this looks a distinct possibility.
Onto Eibar, and as mentioned, the visitors find themselves languishing in the lower reaches of La Liga in 16th place and just 5 points above the relegation zone prior to the resumption of the Spanish top flight calendar.
Eibar could have been forgiven for wanting to play on over the Christmas and New Year period as the visitors recently ended a poor 4-match losing streak with a point in a 0-0 draw away from home at Athletic Bilbao before signing off 2019 with a convincing 3-0 home win against Granada.
Earlier defeats to Real Madrid 4-0, Deportivo Alaves 2-0, Real Sociedad 4-1 and a 1-0 loss to Getafe had threatened to dump Eibar into the bottom three, but their recent improved results have kept the relegation zone at arms length for the time being.
However, Eibar have managed to register just 1 win away from home all season which was gained at second from bottom Leganes in a 2-1 win, while the bigger picture shows that Eibar have won just 2 of their last 24 away matches in La Liga - the other win was at Saturday’s opponents, Valencia, in a 1-0 win back in April of last year.
🎥 Así ha sido el primer entrenamiento del año 💪🏼El equipo que dirige Albert Celades sigue trabajando con la mente puesta en el partido 🆚 @sdeibar#AmuntValencia 🦇 pic.twitter.com/r1BqswAzEX— Valencia CF 🦇💯 (@valenciacf) January 1, 2020
🎥 Así ha sido el primer entrenamiento del año 💪🏼El equipo que dirige Albert Celades sigue trabajando con la mente puesta en el partido 🆚 @sdeibar#AmuntValencia 🦇 pic.twitter.com/r1BqswAzEX
Current form suggests that Valencia won’t slip up again and will collect all three points here.