Next Saturday, 17th of January of 2015, a Valencia side hurt in their pride will entertain Almeria at Mestalla for round 19 of the Spanish Liga BBVA, on a match where Los Che want to somewhat erase the poor image they have left at Cornella-El Prat last Tuesday, when they were defeated by Espanyol and consequently eliminated from the Copa del Rey.

It was definitely a bad day for Valencia as the mighty boys from Nuno Espirito Santo sucumbed at the hands of a brave and hard working Espanyol on the second leg of the ⅛ finals of the Copa del Rey. After their remarkable win over Real Madrid early this month, Los Che have experienced several difficulties on the following matches. A narrow home win against Espanyol and a draw at Los Balaídos against a frail Celta de Vigo was the best that Valencia managed to achieve. Last Tuesday’s defeat against Los Periquitos was an huge blow on the team’s morale but the truth is that the Catalan team have deserved to win the match. Valencia played almost the entire match with just ten men after the German international defender Mustafi has been sent off on the 12’ minute of the first-half. Los Che tried to overcome such setback but they were never able to cope with Espanyol’s will and bravery.

Nuno Espirito Santo, who has already been compared to Sir Alex Ferguson this season, because of his impressive work at the helm of Los Che, still has a long and bumpy way ahead of him in order to maintain Valencia among the top five teams of Spanish football and these setbacks are a good test to his ability to overcome adversities.

Next Saturday’s clash against Almeria will certainly be a complicated one for Los Che and although they are firm favourites to win the match, they will need to rally their troops in order to take some positive from it.

As for Almeria, the Andalusia team are having a complicated season so far, although the arrival of their new manager Juan Ignacio Martinez back in December was a breath of fresh air to the team. Almeria’s game have increased considerably and they even managed to achieve three consecutive wins last month for the first time this season.

The match at Mestalla will definitely be a very complicated one for them, but they will certainly pose Valencia a fierce opposition as they will try to leave the Comunidad Valenciana with at least one point in their bags that might help them in their quest against relegation.

Valencia

Stats: W-3 L-1 D-1

Recent Form - LDWWW

Almeria

Stats: W-3 L-1 D-1

Recent Form - LDWWW

Possible Line-ups

Valencia (3-5-2) - Diego Alves - Gayá - Otamendi - Barragan - Javi Fuego - André Gomes - Parejo - Enzo Perez - Rodrigo - Paco Alcacer - Negredo

Almeria (4-2-3-1) - Julian - Dos Santos - Velez - Trujillo - Dubarbier - Verza - Teye - Corona - Mendez - Wellington - Hemed

Prediction

Valencia 2 Almeria 1