Las Palmas and Valencia will play within another round of the Spanish championship and we will probably see some goals from both teams.
Since the hosts came back to the elite, they’ve managed to book places in the middle of the tournament table. They are not ready to fight for the Eurocups, but they aren’t going to be relegated either. 12-point gap from the 18th spot allows the Yellows to feel comfortable, that is why they will play offensively at home. The guests perform terribly for a second season now, and if not for the seven points in the new year, Valencia would have been sharing the 18th position with Sporting. Nevertheless, the last two victories may give confidence to the Bats and they will finally get on the winning track.
The teams have already played against each other this season, and that time, the encounter finished in a 2-4 victory for Las Palmas. Both teams do not shine in defense: the Yellows have 30 conceded goals in 19 matches, the Bats, in their turn, have conceded 33 goals in 18 games. Only three league outsiders defend worse, than they are – Sporting, Granada and Osasuna.
The hosts have played only four matches without conceding any goals, however, it should be noted, that all these matches were at Gran Canaria (The Yellows’ stadium). Only nine goals were conceded by Las Palmas at home, which is a great indicator, however, in only four out of ten domestic games the team managed to keep their goal shut. Wherein the hosts are going to miss a few defense players. The central defender Bigas’ participation is in question and his substitute Aythami got a red card in the last match. Another defender, David Garcia is also injured, I.e. Las Palmas have a hole in the center of defense.
The defender Abdennour will not play for the guests, but anyway, with or without him, Valencia’s defense looks terrible. Yes, they managed to play zero with Villareal, which was a surprise even, because prior to that, the Bats conceded at least one goal in all previous matches. Moreover, considering friendly matches and the games of the previous season, Valencia had 34-match streak, where the team couldn’t keep its goal shut.
In attack, however, the teams are alright. Both teams scored 28 goals within La Liga. Wherein the hosts didn’t score in only four out of nineteen games of the championship, and it should be noted, that two of those games were against Atletico and Barcelona. The guests didn’t manage to strike the goal of only two competitors, whereas Valencia score at least one goal during the last 15 official games in a row.
Considering the fact, that the guests need to get three points and we probably would not see any sluggish action in attack. The Bats show nice football in general, and only defense fails. But Las Palmas will feel themselves more confident at their home ground and they are definitely capable of cracking the defense of such competitor.
Prediction for the match: Both team to score
