Two teams battling to remain in Spain's top fight will lock horns for a relegation six-pointer on Sunday afternoon, as Granada welcome Levante to Estadio Nuevo Los Carmenes.
Granada are currently 16th in the La Liga table, one point ahead of 18th-placed Cadiz, while Levante occupy 19th position, seven points behind 17th-placed Mallorca on the same number of games (31).
Match preview
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Granada have excelled in their last two La Liga campaigns, finishing seventh and ninth respectively, but they are currently involved in a relegation battle, having struggled for consistency for much of the campaign.
Indeed, a record of six wins, 11 draws and 14 defeats from 31 matches has seen them collect 29 points, which is only enough for 16th spot in the table, just one point ahead of 18th-placed Cadiz, who are not in action until Monday evening, facing a clash against Barcelona.
As a result, this match will provide the perfect chance for Granada to put some distance between themselves and the relegation zone, but they have lost three of their last five in the league, including a 4-2 loss at Sevilla last time out, which followed a 2-2 home draw with Rayo Vallecano.
Ruben Torrecilla's side have the fourth-worst home record in La Liga this term, picking up just 16 points from 16 matches, but they will be welcoming a Levante side with the second-worst away record, with the Frogs claiming just six points from 15 matches on their travels.
Granada recorded a 3-0 victory when they travelled to Levante earlier this season, while they are unbeaten in their last four matches with Sunday's opponents, including a 1-1 draw in the corresponding clash last term.
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Levante have only spent one season out of La Liga since 2010, so it would be a surprise if they were relegated to the Segunda Division for the 2022-23 campaign.
The Valencia-based outfit are facing the serious possibility of dropping into the second tier, though, as a total of 22 points from 31 matches has left them in 19th position in the table on 22 points.
The Frogs are currently seven points behind 17th-placed Mallorca, but there have been signs of life in recent matches, recording a 2-0 win over Villarreal at the start of the month before only losing 3-2 to an in-form Barcelona last weekend.
Levante were actually on the verge of claiming a point against Barcelona last weekend, only for Luuk de Jong to come up with a winner for the Catalan giants in the 92nd minute of the contest.
Alessio Lisci's side will take on Sevilla and Valencia in their final two league matches of April before facing Real Sociedad, Real Madrid, Alaves and Rayo Vallecano next month, and it will be fascinating to see whether they can escape the bottom three over the next few weeks.
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Team News
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Granada could again be missing Ruben Rochina, Dani Raba, Maxime Gonalons, Santiago Arias, Carlos Neva, Neyder Lozano and Angel Montoro through injury on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Raul Torrente is out with the problem that he picked up against Sevilla last time out, and Luis Suarez is suspended due to his yellow card in the same match.
As a result, the home side will be far from full strength this weekend; Torrente's absence should open the door for German Sanchez to feature at the back, while Jorge Molina could take Suarez's spot in attack.
As for Levante, Shkodran Mustafi, Martin Caceres, Jorge de Frutos and Carlos Clerc will again be unavailable for selection through injury.
Meanwhile, Roger Marti picked up a muscular problem during the defeat to Barcelona, so Dani Gomez could come into the starting XI alongside Jose Luis Morales in the final third of the field.
The team could otherwise be unchanged from the one that took to the field for the first whistle against Barcelona, with a five-man defence including Ruben Vezo, while Nemanja Radoja should retain his position in the middle of the park.
Granada possible starting lineup:
Maximiano; Uzuni, Diaz, Duarte, Sanchez, Escudero; Milla, Eteki, Petrovic; Molina, Machis
Levante possible starting lineup:
Cardenas; Miramon, Rober, Postigo, Vezo, Son; Radoja, Pepelu, Campana; D Gomez, Morales
We say: Granada 1-1 Levante
Three of the last four La Liga contests between these two sides have finished level, and we can only see another draw in this match. Both teams are in desperate need of three points, but it is really difficult to separate them in this contest, especially with Levante showing recent improvement.
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 Granada win with a probability of 45.87%. A win for Levante had a probability of 29.53% and a draw had a probability of 24.6%.
The most likely scoreline for a Granada win was 1-0 with a probability of 9.35%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.28%) and 2-0 (7.5%). The likeliest Levante win was 0-1 (7.22%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (11.58%). The actual scoreline of 1-4 was predicted with a 0.9% likelihood.
