Osasuna vs Valladolid - The Battle Against Relegation At El Sadar

Next Friday night, Osasuna will entertain Valladolid at El Sadar for round 33 of Liga BBVA on what will be a decisive test for both sides concerning their battle against relegation.

After having managed to grab a draw at home against Real Sociedad two weeks ago, Osasuna traveled to Andalusia to play against Almeria, who are also struggling to survive at the end of the table, and obtained an important 2-1 victory that will surely lift up the team’s morale for the matches to come.

Osasuna’s head coach praised his players’ good work at the end of a match where he once again relied on the inspiration from the team’s top scorer Oriol Riera that netted in his side’s first goal earlier in the match.

For next Friday’s match, the Pamplona side’s manager Javi Gracia will probably not be able to count on the midfielder Lolo that is not fully recovered from the injury that struck him last week.

As for Valladolid, the team from the Castile and León community managed to grab an important home draw against Valencia last Sunday on their quest for a place at the Spanish top tier next season. The Pucela have transformed the Estadio Nuevo José Zorrilla into their stronghold and the team’s last defeat at home was back in November, precisely against Osasuna. Valladolid have only lost three times at home this season, despite the fact that when they play away from José Zorrilla, they are quite an inconsistent team.

At the end of last Sunday’s match, Valladolid’s head coach claimed that he believes that an hypothetical point obtained against Los Che could be crucial at the end of the season when the time to decide who will be relegated finally arrives.

When both teams measured forces back in November at Nuevo José Zorrilla, Osasuna grabbed an unlikely 1-0 win (one should consider that only Atlético Madrid and Athletic Bilbao have managed to defeat Valladolid at their stadium. Next Friday, there will certainly be a close match between both sides, however one might consider that Osasuna have a slight advantage since they are playing at home in front of their enthusiastic supporters.

Osasuna

Stats: W-9 L-17 D-6

Recent Form: LLLDW

Valladolid

Stats: W-6 L-13 D-13

Recent Form - LDLWD

Possible Line-ups

Osasuna (4-2-3-1) - A. Fernández - Bertrán - Flaño - Arribas - Damiá - F. Silva - Loe - Cejudo - De Las Cuevas - Armenteros - O. Riera

Valladolid (4-4-2) – Jaime - Rukavina - Valiente - J. Rueda - Peña - V. Pérez - Rubio - Larsson - Óscar - J. Guerra - Manucho

Prediction: Osasuna 2 Valladolid 1