Real Madrid will be looking to return to winning ways in Spain's top flight when they continue their campaign away to basement side Huesca on Saturday afternoon.
Zinedine Zidane's side, who lost 2-1 at home to Levante last weekend, are currently third in La Liga, 10 points behind leaders Atletico Madrid, while Huesca are bottom, three points from the safety of 17th position.
Match preview
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Huesca will enter this weekend's contest off the back of a huge 3-1 victory away to Real Valladolid last weekend, with Rafa Mir scoring a hat-trick for the league's basement side.
The Segunda Division champions are still bottom of the table, but they are now only three points from the safety of 17th position and will certainly believe that they are capable of escaping the bottom three.
Huesca have only won twice in Spain's top flight this term but have suffered just nine defeats, which is far from disastrous considering their position in the table. Indeed, Pacheta's side have lost the same number of La Liga matches as seventh-placed Real Betis this season.
The Aragon-based club, who are operating in the top flight for just the second time in their history, suffered a 4-1 defeat when they travelled to Madrid earlier this season, but they held the leaders Atletico to a goalless draw when Diego Simeone's side visited Estadio El Alcoraz back in September.
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Madrid, meanwhile, will enter Saturday's clash off the back of a shock home defeat to Levante last weekend; Marco Asensio had sent Zidane's side ahead in the 13th minute, but Jose Luis Morales and Roger Marti turned the match around for the visitors, who left with all three points.
Including the recent Super Cup and Copa del Rey defeats to Athletic Bilbao and Alcoyano respectively, Los Blancos have lost three of their last four matches in all competitions, while they have only won one of their last three in the league, which has seen them lose more ground on the leaders.
As mentioned, Zidane's side are third in Spain's top flight, 10 points behind Atletico at the summit, and the current leaders also have a game in hand, which shows their strength at this stage of the campaign.
Madrid are now level on points with second-placed Barca, meanwhile, which is somewhat of a surprise considering the problems facing Ronald Koeman's side earlier this season.
The reigning Spanish champions will be eyeing their 13th league victory of 2020-21 on Saturday afternoon, and they have been relatively impressive on their travels this term, picking up 22 points from 11 matches, which is the second-best record in the division behind Atletico.
Huesca La Liga form: LLLLDW
Huesca form (all competitions): LLLLDW
Real Madrid La Liga form: WDWDWL
Real Madrid form (all competitions): WDLLWL
Team News
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Huesca are again expected to be without Pedro Mosquera, Sandro Ramirez, Antonio Valera, Juan Carlos and Pablo Insua through injury this weekend, but Javi Ontiveros is available following a suspension.
Pacheta, who only took charge of the strugglers on January 12, could decide to name the same XI that took to the field against Valladolid last time out.
Ontiveros, Dani Escriche and Pedro Lopez are all pushing for positions in the side, but the manner of the performance at Valladolid could see the same team sent onto the field.
As for Madrid, Eder Militao is suspended due to the red card that he picked up against Levante, while Rodrygo Goes, Eden Hazard and Federico Valverde are definitely out of the contest through injury.
Lucas Vazquez, Sergio Ramos and Dani Carvajal are also all unavailable for selection, but Nacho has returned to training after testing negative for coronavirus, and the versatile defender is in contention to feature.
Hazard's absence with another muscular problem could see Vinicius Junior handed a spot in the final third of the field alongside Karim Benzema and Asensio.
There are also not expected to be any surprises in the middle of the park, though, with Casemiro, Toni Kroos and Luka Modric lining up as the midfield three against the league's bottom club.
Huesca possible starting lineup:
Fernandez; Pulido, Siovas, Silva; Maffeo, Rico, Doumbia, Seoane, Galan; Okazaki, Mir
Real Madrid possible starting lineup:
Courtois; Odriozola, Nacho, Varane, Mendy; Kroos, Casemiro, Modric; Vinicius, Benzema, Asensio
We say: Huesca 1-2 Real Madrid
Huesca have proved relatively tough to beat this season despite their troubles, and Madrid are not in their best moment; we are finding it difficult to back the home side to pick up anything from Saturday's contest, though, as Zidane's side will be fired up to return to winning ways following the loss to Levante.
Top betting tip
Matt Law
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Real Madrid win with a probability of 67.31%. A draw had a probability of 20.5% and a win for Huesca had a probability of 12.14%.
The most likely scoreline for a Real Madrid win was 0-1 with a probability of 14.17%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-2 (13.74%) and 1-2 (9.3%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (9.59%), while for a Huesca win it was 1-0 (4.95%). The actual scoreline of 1-2 was predicted with a 9.3% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Real Madrid would win this match.
