Next Saturday, 24th of January 2015, a relegation threatened Real Sociedad will measure forces with a surprising Eibar at the emblematic Anoeta Stadium for round 20 of the Spanish Liga BBVA, a match that the home side desperately needs to win to clinch the three points in order to restore the team’s damaged motivation levels and to increase the number of points that separate them from the dangerous relegation zone.

Everything seemed to be in place for Real Sociedad to continue their recent positive moment at Anoeta when the Basque team entertained Rayo Vallecano last Saturday, but the team from the outskirts of Madrid cause them a major upset, winning the match by 1-0. A late goal by the powerful Angolan centre forward Manucho was enough to seal what one could call a deserved win for Paco Jemez’s boys. Real Sociedad were fairly ineffective throughout the entire match and, although they enjoyed from some good chances to score, they also failed to, at least, achieve the equalizer that would have granted them a consolation point.

Things haven’t been easy for David Moyes at Real Sociedad. The former Everton and Manchester United manager is currently suspended, after being sent off on the Copa del Rey 2nd leg clash against Villarreal at Anoeta last week. The Scottish manager protested against a referee decision and suffered the consequences. David Moyes, who replaced Jagoba Arrasate back in November, needs to create something very special in order to motivate his players once again, after last weekend’s home upset, but he will need to do that quickly if he doesn’t want to see his team drowning in the pits of the relegation zone.

The upcoming match against their neighbours and rivals of Eibar constitutes a great opportunity for Real Sociedad to get back on track, regardless of the fact that they will face a very dangerous and mighty rival.

As for Eibar, the La Liga’s newcomers are probably the most pleasant surprise of Spanish football today. A mighty team with a low budget, that has already proved they are far from being pushovers, are currently on the 8th place of the table with 27 points from 19 matches. The work of Gaizka Garitano cannot go unnoticed and it is almost certain that Eibar will go to Anoeta with the intention of causing their Guipuzcoa neighbours a major upset. Last Friday night, Eibar snatched one point from their visit to Cordoba and extended their undefeated row to three matches.

Although it might be fair to say that Real Sociedad are somewhat favourites for the upcoming match, especially after what they achieved at Anoeta against Barcelona, Real and Atlético Madrid, they will certainly need to work hard in order to overcome a hard working team such as Eibar.

Real Sociedad

Stats: W-1 L-2 D-2

Recent Form - LDLWD

Eibar

Stats: W-2 L-2 D-1

Recent Form - DWWLL

Possible Line-ups

Real Sociedad (4-4-1-1) - Rulli - Elustondo - Ansotegui - I. Martínez - La Bella - Granero - Bergara - Canales - Prieto - Vela - Agirretxe

Eibar (4-2-3-1) - Irureta - Bóveda - Anibarro - Navas - Abraham - Errasti - Garcia - Berjon - Capa - Arruabarrena - Del Moral

Prediction

Real Sociedad 1 Eibar 1