Real Sociedad vs Espanyol Prediction - Will The Txuri-Urdin Return To Victories At Anoeta Next Saturday?

Next Saturday, Real Sociedad will host Espanyol at the emblematic Anoeta Stadium for round 34 of Liga BBVA on a match where the Txuri-urdin will do everything within their reach to return to the positive results at home.

Last weekend, Real Sociedad travelled to Galicia to play against Celta de Vigo and after being on the lead with a 2-1 advantage, they allowed a ten-men Celta side to grab a late equaliser thanks to a goal from the young talented Spanish forward Santi Mina. The team’s manager, Jagoba Arrasate, was clearly upset at the end of the match as he claimed that his side was not able to finish the chances they created and ended up conceding a late goal.

Real Sociedad are on a three match row without a single win and they’ve dropped to the seventh place of the table after Villarreal’s win last weekend. Although they have seven points more than Valencia, who are right behind them, the Basque team needs to return to victories if they want to avoid any last minute upset in the battle for a place at UEFA international competitions next season.

For next Saturday’s match, Jagoba Arrasate is not yet certain if he will be able to count on the contribution of the team’s captain, Xabi Prieto, who is still not fully recovered from his recent injury. On the other hand, the Basque manager will be happy to know that the Spanish youth international Esteban Granero is ready to help his team after returning from a long term injury last week.

As for Espanyol, next Saturday’s match also represents a good opportunity to return to victories after three matches without grabbing a win. Last weekend, the Catalan team conceded a home draw against a fierce Rayo Vallecano side, which is not necessarily a poor result since Espanyol were losing until the dying moments of the match. At the end of the match, the Mexican manager Javier Aguirré was somehow disappointed with the match’s outcome and wished that his team would end La Liga displaying a fairly more positive image than the one they left the pitch with against Rayo.

For next Saturday’s clash at Anoeta, Javier Aguirre will have to deal with several problems in his side’s defence line thanks to the injuries from Sidnei, Moreno, and Mattioni, who will all miss the clash with the Basque team next weekend.

When both sides faced each other at Cornellà-El Prat last November, Real Sociedad were the better team and clinched a 2-1 win thanks to an own goal from Stuani and a goal from the talented French midfielder Antoine Griezmann.

Real Sociedad

Stats: W-14 L-10 D-9

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Espanyol

Stats: W-11 L-14 D-8

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Possible Line-ups

Real Sociedad (4-2-3-1) - Bravo - C. Martínez - I. Martínez - M. González- J.Ángel - Zurutuza - Bergara - Griezmann - Canales - Vela - Agirretxe

Espanyol (4-4-2) - Casilla - J. López - Colotto - R. Rodríguez - Fuentes - D. López - V. Sanchez - Pizzi - Simão - Stuani - S. Garcia

Prediction: Real Sociedad 2 Espanyol 0