Real Valladolid will be looking to end their four-game winless run in La Liga when they play host to Levante at the Estadio Jose Zorrilla on Wednesday.
The two sides are separated by six points in the table as things stand, with Levante sitting in 12th with 41 points, while Valladolid occupy 14th spot with 35 points.
Match preview
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Valladolid's winless run in the Spanish top flight continued as they drew 1-1 away to Champions-league chasing Sevilla last Friday, with Lucas Ocampos netting a late equaliser for the home side at the Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan.
However, that result means that Sergio Gonzalez's side have only tasted defeat once since La Liga returned to action, and Valladolid are nine clear of the bottom three with six gameweeks left of the 2019-20 campaign.
The White and Violets should not be in any real danger of relegation at this stage of the season, but Valladolid will no doubt be looking over their shoulder as they search for their first home win since February.
Gonzalez has witnessed his team endure a tough run of fixtures against top-half sides in Atletico Madrid, Getafe and Sevilla in the last few weeks, and the 42-year-old will no doubt be satisfied with draws against the latter two prior to Wednesday's mid-table clash with Levante.
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In contrast, Levante recovered from their midweek defeat to Atletico Madrid as they overcame Real Betis 4-2 on Sunday.
Levante's 12th win of the season means they have only lost one of their last six league matches in Spain's top flight, but Paco Lopez's men realistically have very little to play for at this late stage of the season.
Granotas currently lie 12th in the table on 41 points – 15 clear of the relegation zone and eight adrift of the top six, and while a late push for the European places seems unlikely for Levante, it certainly is not out of the question just yet.
Nevertheless, Granotas are well-positioned to improve on last season's 15th-placed finish, and should other results go their way in midweek, Levante would climb up to 10th in the table with a second victory on the bounce.
That being said, even though Levante managed to win their most recent away fixture against bottom-of-the-table Espanyol, Lopez's side have only triumphed four times on their travels all season.
Two strikes in the final 10 minutes from Sergio Leon and Jose Luis Morales gave Levante a 2-0 win over Valladolid when the sides last met back in August.
Real Valladolid La Liga form: LWDLDD
Levante La Liga form: DDDWLW
Team News
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Gonzalez made a plethora of changes to his side against Sevilla, and it would not be a surprise to see the Valladolid manager shuffle the pack again with fixtures coming thicker and faster than ever.
Kiko Olivas should retain his place in defence following his opener against Sevilla, and the highly-rated Mohammed Salisu could return to partner the Spaniard at centre-back.
Hatem Ben Arfa made his first start of the campaign against Sevilla, but the Frenchman was hauled off on the hour mark and may be forced to settle for a place amongst the substitutes in midweek.
With regards to Levante, midfielder Nikola Vukcevic is available for selection after serving a suspension against Betis for accumulating 10 yellow cards.
The only real concern for Levante is the knee injury keeping Ivan Lopez on the treatment table, but other than that the Granotas manager has a clean bill of health prior to the clash with Valladolid.
Real Valladolid possible starting lineup:
Masip; Moyano, Olivas, Salisu, Nacho; Plano, Emeterio, Michel, Villa; Unal, Guardiola
Levante possible starting lineup:
Fernandez; Miramon, Vezo, Postigo, Clerc; Rochina, Campana, Vukcevic, Bardhi; Morales, Mayoral
We say: Real Valladolid 2-1 Levante
Valladolid will be more determined than ever to get three points on the board and end their barren run, while Levante have only managed to amass 13 points on the road all season. Gonzalez is likely to freshen his team up and welcome several regular fixtures back to the starting XI, so we are backing the home side to take the spoils on Wednesday evening.
Ben Knapton
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 Valladolid win with a probability of 37.2%. A win for Levante had a probability of 35.95% and a draw had a probability of 26.9%.
The most likely scoreline for a Real Valladolid win was 1-0 with a probability of 10.22%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.14%) and 2-0 (6.52%). The likeliest Levante win was 0-1 (10.01%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.76%). The actual scoreline of 0-0 was predicted with an 8% likelihood.
