Preview: Osasuna vs. Sevilla

Sports Mole previews Thursday’s La Liga clash between Osasuna and Sevilla, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.

Osasuna will look to pursue an outside chance of qualifying for Europe when they welcome Sevilla to El Sadar in La Liga on Thursday night.

While the hosts could sneak into the top eight, Sevilla remain in a complete mess after another dismal season, and relegation fears have not been put to bed just yet.

Match preview
© Imago

Osasuna took advantage of two favourable fixtures to strengthen their chances of an unlikely adventure into Europe next season, beating Girona and Valladolid to close the gap on the top eight.

Since losing to Barcelona at the end of March, Los Rojillos are now four games unbeaten, with their two recent wins more than they had managed in the 18 games prior.

Plenty of draws in that run means relegation was never a real threat, but manager Vicente Moreno was still under pressure, and he has battled through that to give the supporters a potentially exciting end to the season.

The gap between the relegation zone and the top eight has been relatively close all season, so it was not unimaginable that a team could have surged up the table, and Osasuna now find themselves just two points shy of the Conference League spot.

A leaky defence could put a spanner in the works though, because the club from Pamplona have only kept two clean sheets at home this season, conceding 23 goals in 16 games at El Sadar.

This could be a potentially favourable fixture to fix that though, and continue their ascent up the table, because they are unbeaten in seven previous meetings with Sevilla.

Extending that run here will end any hopes Sevilla have of a late charge for Europe themselves, while also plunging them closer to the drop zone, with teams below them facing each other in the coming weeks.

Sevilla are both six points off Europe and six points above the relegation zone with six games to play, but recent form suggests a battle against the drop is most likely, as they enter this midweek set of games without a win in five.

A 1-1 draw at home to Alaves over the weekend in Joaquin Caparros’s first game in charge on his return to the club ended a four-game losing run, but they would have expected more against a team currently in the bottom three.

The Rojiblancos are on 37 points at present, with 40 almost certain to be enough for survival, and with home games against Leganes and Las Palmas to come, they will surely have enough to stay up, but the Alaves result will leave some doubts.

Osasuna La Liga form:

Sevilla La Liga form:

Team News
© Imago

Osasuna’s only injury doubt concerns Raul Garcia, who has been missing with an eye injury recently, but Bayern Munich-loanee Bryan Zaragoza was back as an unused substitute in the win over Valladolid on Sunday.

The hosts have been helped by having some of the best performers at opposite ends of the pitch this season, with marksman Ante Budimir still in great form, scoring three and setting up another in his last two matches, taking him over 20 goals in a single season for the first time in his career.

In goal too, Sergio Herrera may have only kept five clean sheets this season, but he has made the second-most saves of any La Liga goalkeeper with 109.

Sevilla will have Kike Salas back from suspension ahead of this encounter, but they will lose Nemanja Gudelj, after he picked up his fifth booking of the campaign on Sunday.

The visitors are without three players due to injury, as Akor Adams (muscle) and Ruben Vargas (hamstring) will be missing in attack, and defender Tanguy Nianzou (muscle) is also absent.

Returning manager Caparros will hope to see top scorer Dodi Lukebakio rediscover his touch in front of goal, because the Belgian has now gone six games without a goal, coinciding with their drop off in form.

Osasuna possible starting lineup:
Herrera; Areso, Boyomo, Catena, Herrando, Bretones; Moncayola, Lucas Torro, Aimar Oroz; Budimir, Ruben Garcia

Sevilla possible starting lineup:
Nyland; Carmona, Bade, Salas, Pedrosa; Agoume, Sow, Peque; Lukebakio, Romero, Ejuke

We say: Osasuna 1-1 Sevilla
Osasuna have been the draw specialists in La Liga this season, and even though they do enter the game on the back of two consecutive victories, they both came against out-of-form opponents scrapping at the bottom.

Sevilla are not too far away from that fight against relegation, but there are no immediate fears of them facing the drop, and after arresting their losing run at the weekend, they could take another point in this one.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

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