Cadiz will make the short trip to Seville this weekend for their Andalusian derby against Sevilla at the Estadio Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan.
Sevilla come into this game knowing that a win could propel them all the way into third place, ahead of both Barcelona and Villarreal, while Cadiz will be looking to extend their La Liga unbeaten streak to five games.
Match preview
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After overcoming their festive dip, Alvaro Cervera's Cadiz side - who are currently ninth in the table - look to be flying once again, with the team picking up six points from their last four league outings.
Last time out, Andalusia's Yellow Submarine drew 2-2 with an in-form Levante side, with Alberto Perea and Cala finding the back of the net early for the home side.
Still, many of Cadiz's good results in recent weeks have come against teams below them in the table.
Against Sevilla this weekend, Cadiz will find themselves up against one of La Liga's top sides and will certainly struggle to find a foothold in the contest.
As always, the pressure will be on star-striker Alvaro Negredo, who currently has four goals and three assists for the club, more than any of his teammates.
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Much like their Andalusian neighbours, Sevilla are also in fine form this season, with their last league defeat coming against Real Madrid back in early December.
Recent results have in fact been so positive that the club hierarchy decided to reward manager Julen Lopetegui with a new contract that will see the man from the Basque Country remain at the club until 2024.
Lopetegui will hope to thank the club's owners for their show of faith with a spot in the Champions League next season.
Sevilla are currently fifth in La Liga behind Villarreal but a win against Cadiz could see them make themselves at home within the league's top four.
A good result this weekend could hinge on another stellar performance from in-form striker Youssef En-Nesyri, who has scored four goals in three league games for the club.
Sevilla La Liga form: DWWDWW
Sevilla form (all competitions): DWWLWW
Cadiz La Liga form: LLDDWD
Cadiz form (all competitions): DDWWDL
Team News
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The visitors are likely to be without a host of players such as Carlos Akapo, Augusto Fernandez, Jose Mari, Marcos Mauro and Luismi Quezada, who are all injured.
Fali has served his one-game suspension, while Alfonso Espino is unavailable due to COVID-19.
COVID-19 has also affected Sevilla coming into this tie, with centre-back Diego Carlos unavailable.
Oscar, Tomas Vaclik and Sergio Escudero are all also out due to injury.
Sevilla possible starting lineup:
Bono; Navas, Kounde, Gomez, Acuna; Jordan, Fernando, Rakitic; Suso, En-Nesyri, Ocampos
Cadiz possible starting lineup:
Ledesma; Carcelen, Alcala, Cala, Izquierdo; Alex, Jon Garrido, Jonsson, Perea; Negredo, Lozano
We say: Sevilla 2-1 Cadiz
Lopetegui's Sevilla side are playing some fantastic football at the moment and look more than capable of outgunning Cadiz. However, expect a fightback from the Yellow Submarine because they rarely go down quietly.
Top betting tip
Francis Buchanan
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 Sevilla win with a probability of 60.13%. A draw had a probability of 23.5% and a win for Cadiz had a probability of 16.38%.
The most likely scoreline for a Sevilla win was 1-0 with a probability of 14.31%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (12.3%) and 2-1 (9.43%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (10.97%), while for a Cadiz win it was 0-1 (6.38%). The actual scoreline of 3-0 was predicted with a 7.1% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Sevilla would win this match.
