Real Sociedad vs Real Valladolid

Real Sociedad and Real Valladolid are set to trade tackles at the Reale Arena in a battle between the two struggling La Liga sides. 

A goal-glutted 2-2 draw at Rayo Vallecano on the stroke of March’s international break extended Real Sociedad’s dismal winless run to six matches in all competitions (D2, L4), keeping them pinned to La Liga’s mid-table. Indeed, Imanol Alguacil’s men head into proceedings on a three-game winless league run (D1, L2), with both defeats seeing them fail to get on the scoresheet. That’s barely surprising, considering no La Liga team has posted more scoring blanks than Sociedad’s 13 this season, highlighting their misfiring attack as a weak link. Facing rock-bottom Valladolid should be a ‘walk in the park’ for Sociedad, yet just one win from their last five H2Hs (D2, L2) paints a bleak picture for the San Sebastian strugglers. 

In the meantime, with the last 12 sides to sit bottom of La Liga after matchday 28 suffering relegation, Valladolid’s hopes of avoiding the drop look slim. Adding to this sentiment, they languish a massive 11 points adrift of safety after losing eight of their last nine league outings (D1), including a narrow 1-0 home defeat to Celta Vigo before the break. Scoring has been an issue for ‘Los Pucelanos’ this term as they’ve failed to find the net in 12 league matches, contributing to a league-low tally of only 18 goals. Indeed, they’ve not scored more than once per game since October. Despite scoring on four of their last five away league fixtures, they enter this round amid a dreadful nine-game losing run on the road!