Sevilla will make the short trip to the southeast of Spain to face Almeria in the third round of the 2022/23 La Liga season.
Venue: Estadio de los Juegos Mediterráneos (Almería)
Key Statistics
Almeria took the lead on a joint second league-high 28 occasions in their second-flight league campaign last season.
The hosts have scored 2+ goals in six of their last ten home matches
Both teams have scored in seven of the last ten Sevilla away matches.
Sevilla’s last nine La Liga games have either been drawn or decided by a one-goal margin.
Head to head
Sevilla have won ten of the last 13 meetings between both sides while Almeria have three wins.
Latest performances in all competition
Almeria: D-L-L-W-L
Sevilla: D-L-W-L-L
Almeria
Almeria’s return to the top-flight has not been as rosy as they envisioned as they have failed to win any of their opening two games of the campaign.
After opening with a disappointing 2-1 loss to Real Madrid in the first round, the hosts could not hold on to snatch all three points in their last game against Elche.
Having taken the lead in the match, they conceded a late equaliser for the second game in a row having also led against Real Madrid in round one.
The hosts were the 2021/22 Segunda División winners and took the lead on 28 occasions in their second-flight league campaign last season. Having now dropped points in two consecutive occasions where they have opened the scoring, the onus now lies on them to find a formula to see our games if they want to remain in the top flight for another season.
Manager Rubi will be hoping that the addition of new foreign signings such as Marko Milovanovic and Gui Guedes will help his side as they battle for La Liga survival.
Possible Almeria starting line-up
Fernando Martinez; Arnau Puigmal, Rodrigo Ely, Srdjan Babic, Kaiky Melo, Sergio Akieme; Samu Costa, Lucas Robertone, Inigo Eguaras; Lergie Ramezani, Sadiq Umar.
Injured: Ivan Martos, Juanjo Nieto,
Doubtful: None
Suspended: Alex Centelles
Sevilla
Like their hosts, Sevilla have not also fared well since the beginning of this season having failed to win any of their opening two games.
The Andalusian side who were one of the early pacesetters last season were beaten 2-1 by Osasuna in the opening round before snatching a point in a 1-1 draw with Real Valladolid last weekend.
The last time they failed to win any of their opening two league games was in the 2015/16 season; a season where they finished in seventh place.
For a team that was by this time considered a title contender, anything short of a top-four finish this season will be regarded as a failure. And so Julen Loptegui who is rumoured to be leaving Ramon Sanchez by the end of this season will be desperate to get his side into gear to avoid a catastrophic season.
Possible Sevilla starting line-up
Yassine Bounou; Gonzalo Montiel, Nianzou Kouassi, Karim Rekik, Angel Carmona; Joan Jordan, Fernado, Dario Gomez; Erik Lamela, Oliver Torres, Rafael Mir.
Injured: Suso, Marcao, Jesus Corona
Doubtful: None
Suspended: Marcos Acuna
Prediction
Almeria 1-1 Sevilla
