Preview:Valencia vs. Osasuna - prediction, team news, lineups

Valencia will be aiming to continue their 100% start to the new La Liga season when they welcome Osasuna to Mestalla on Sunday evening.

Los Che are up in third position in the table, boasting six points from their first two matches, while Osasuna are currently ninth, having picked up six points from their opening two league games of 2023-24.

Match preview

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The only real positive for Valencia last season was that they did not get relegated, with a total of 42 points from 38 matches leaving them in 16th spot in the table - their worst final position in La Liga since being relegated from the top flight in 1985-86.

Los Che have only managed to add three new players to their squad this summer, with Sergi Canos recently becoming their latest addition, following Cenk Ozkacar and Pepelu to the club.

There were some nervy Valencia supporters entering the new season, but the team have made an excellent start, beating Sevilla and Las Palmas in their first two matches to collect six points from an available six.

Pepelu's 74th-minute penalty beat Las Palmas at Mestalla last Friday, and head coach Ruben Baraja will be aiming to make their home stadium a fortress this season.

Despite their issues last term, Valencia beat Osasuna in both matches between the two sides, including a 1-0 victory in the corresponding fixture back in March.

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Osasuna, meanwhile, finished seventh in La Liga last season, which saw them gain qualification for the Europa Conference League playoff round.

Los Rojillos played the first leg of the European contest on Thursday evening and suffered a 2-1 home defeat to Club Brugge, meaning that there is a lot of work for the team to do in the second leg in Belgium next week.

Jagoba Arrasate's side opened their La Liga campaign with a 2-0 victory over Celta Vigo on August 13, but they lost 2-0 at home to Athletic Bilbao in the league last weekend, so it has not been a positive week for the club.

Osasuna will take on an in-form Valencia and the champions Barcelona either side of the trip to Brugge, and the Spanish outfit will need a special performance in the second leg of their Europa Conference League playoff in order to progress to the group stage of the competition.

Arrasate's team have managed to add four new players to their squad this summer, with Raul Garcia the biggest in terms of a transfer fee, arriving from Real Betis for approximately €6.5m (£5.6m).

Team News

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Valencia will still be missing Alberto Mari for this match, while Marcos de Sousa is also expected to be unavailable once again due to a knee injury.

Canos is in line to make his debut, but the Spaniard is unlikely to start, with head coach Baraja potentially selecting the same XI that took to the field for the first whistle against Las Palmas.

Andre Almeida is currently being used as a forward alongside Hugo Duro and that is again expected to be the case here, with Javi Guerra likely to feature off the bench at some stage of the match.

Osasuna, meanwhile, will again be missing Darko Brasanac due to a long-term knee injury; Ezequiel Avila is also out following his red card in the two-goal loss to Athletic last time out.

Head coach Arrasate could make a couple of changes to the side that started on Thursday against Club Brugge, with Ante Budimir and Raul Garcia likely to be introduced into the attack.

The bulk of the XI from the European contest will remain in place, though, with Aimar Oroz and Lucas Torro again set to feature in midfield alongside Jon Moncayola.

Valencia possible starting lineup:

Mamardashvili; Correia, Paulista, Ozkacar, Gaya; Perez, Diakhaby, Pepelu, Lopez; Duro, Almeida

Osasuna possible starting lineup:

Fernandez; Pena, Catena, D Garcia, Mojica; Moncayola, Torro, Oroz; Ruben Garcia, Budimir, Raul Garcia

We say: Valencia 1-1 Osasuna

Valencia are the form side and will certainly be the fresher of the two teams due to Osasuna's European commitments. Los Che still cannot be completely trusted to win games that they should, though, and we are tipping Osasuna to bounce back from successive losses to claim a welcome point.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.