Real Betis welcome Espanyol to the Benito Villamarin Stadium knowing that victory may be enough to put 11 points between them and the relegation zone.
Meanwhile, bottom-placed Espanyol head into the contest on Thursday evening sitting five points adrift of 17th-placed Eibar in the La Liga standings.
Match preview
© Reuters
Having failed to win any of their first games after the resumption, Betis officials have wasted no time in opting for a change in the dugout.
Rubi, having recorded just 10 victories from 33 games in charge, was relieved of his duties on Sunday, resulting in Alexis Trujillo being handed the reins until the end of the season.
The club's sporting director is tasked with ensuring that Betis do not get dragged into a battle for survival in Spain's top flight during an important period both on and off the pitch.
With an eight-point gap in his favour, Trujillo has some breathing space, but Betis had been hoping to be challenging for a Europa League spot at this stage of the campaign.
While that is realistically out of the equation, Trujillo needs to get the club back on an upward trajectory, aware that some of their big names may request an exit if left unenthusiastic about their future.
Despite having impressed in the games immediately after the enforced break, Espanyol have lost some of that momentum with a home defeat to Levante.
Having witnessed his team register four points and two clean sheets against Alaves and Getafe, shipping three goals to their mid-table opponents would have come as a surprise to Abelardo.
With Real Madrid and Barcelona to come in their next half-a-dozen encounters, there is considerable pressure on the former defender to get a response out of his players on Thursday.
Already underdogs to retain their top-flight status, Espanyol will face an increasingly uphill task if they not able to reduce the five-point deficit to safety in Seville.
Real Betis La Liga form: DLWLDL
Espanyol La Liga form: LDLWDL
Espanyol form (all competitions): WDLWDL
Team News
© Reuters
Espanyol continue to be without Bernardo Espinosa, who serves the second of his three-match ban.
Abelardo must decide whether to revert to a five-man midfield, which could potentially see Sergi Darder return in place of Wu Lei.
Given the change in management, it would be a surprise if Trujillo did not make alterations to Betis' starting lineup.
Carles Alena may be brought back into the middle of the pitch, while top goalscorer Loren Moron appears to be a logical replacement for Borja Iglesias.
Real Betis possible starting lineup:
Robles; Emerson, Mandi, Bartra, Pedraza; Alena, Rodriguez, Canales; Lainez, Moron, Fekir
Espanyol possible starting lineup:
D.Lopez; J.Lopez, Da.Lopez, Cabrera, Vila; Melendo, Sanchez, Roca, Darder, Embarba; Calleri
We say: Real Betis 1-1 Espanyol
Despite the change in the Betis dugout, it remains to be seen whether that will prove to be beneficial with regards to the rest of their season. Taking Espanyol's improvement into consideration, we feel that this game will end in a competitive draw.
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 Betis win with a probability of 48.46%. A win for Espanyol had a probability of 26.5% and a draw had a probability of 25%.
The most likely scoreline for a Real Betis win was 1-0 with a probability of 10.79%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.42%) and 2-0 (8.54%). The likeliest Espanyol win was 0-1 (7.52%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (11.9%). The actual scoreline of 1-0 was predicted with a 10.8% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted a 1-0 win for Real Betis in this match.
