Levante will continue their search for a first La Liga win of the season on Saturday, when they travel to take on Mallorca.
The hosts have lost their last two games, while their visitors sit on just four points from the first seven league outings.
Match preview
© Reuters
After winning promotion from the second tier last season, Mallorca had an impressive start to life back in the top flight, collecting seven points from their first three games as they defeated Alaves and Mallorca and drew with Real Betis.
Luis Garcia Plaza's side have been unable to sustain that form though, having collected just one point from the three games since that start.
After a 2-0 loss to Athletic Bilbao and a commendable draw with Villarreal, Los Piratas now come into Saturday's game on the back of consecutive defeats, as they were first thrashed 6-1 by Real Madrid, with Lee Kang-In's goal nothing more than a consolation as a Marco Asensio hit a hat-trick alongside a Karim Benzema brace and a late Isco goal for Los Blancos.
Plaza's men were handed their second straight loss last time out, as they hosted Osasuna, with Dani Rodriguez and Fer Nino giving them a half-time lead before Inigo Perez equalised and Javi Martinez snatched all three points for the visitors with an 88th-minute winner.
With the main aim of avoiding the drop this season, Mallorca will look to quickly put an end to this patch of form to avoid falling closer to the relegation battle, and they meet a Levante side who will look to climb out of it.
© Reuters
After battling for a top-half spot for the majority of last season, Levante eventually fell to a relatively underwhelming 14th-placed finish, but the new term has started in an even worse way for Paco Lopez's side.
The Granotes are yet to taste victory in the Spanish top flight this campaign, having drawn four and lost three of their first seven games.
They also come into Saturday's clash on the back of consecutive defeats, having firstly fallen to a 2-0 defeat at the hands of fellow strugglers Celta Vigo, before being comfortably defeated by Barcelona.
While they were never expecting to topple the Catalan giants, Lopez's side met Barca at a good time, with the Blaugrana having dropped points in three of their first five games, leading to pressure on Ronald Koeman, but they were comfortably beaten as Memphis Depay and Luuk de Jong got on the scoresheet in the first 15 minutes before Ansu Fati added a third late on.
Now sitting in 17th spot, Levante will be desperate to kickstart their campaign with a win to begin a climb up the table.
- W
- W
- L
- D
- L
- L
- D
- L
- D
- D
- L
- L
Team News
© Reuters
Mallorca have several injury concerns to deal with, as Antonio Raillo, Aleksander Sedlar and Pablo Maffeo will all miss out.
Takefusa Kubo is also sidelined, but former Valencia star Lee Kang-in has recently come into the side and should be a fixture in the front line from now onwards.
Their line will be led by Spanish prospect Fer Nino, who has netted two goals in five La Liga games since arriving on loan from Villarreal.
Levante are also without a list of players through injuries, although their issues have started to decrease in recent weeks.
Midfielder Jose Campana will certainly miss out alongside Mickael Malsa, while goalkeeper Dani Cardenas, midfielder Enis Bardhi and veteran forward Roberto Soldado are all unlikely to return in time for Saturday's game.
However, they were recently boosted by the return of talented winger Jorge de Frutos, who will again start on the right-hand side, supporting star forward Jose Luis Morales.
Mallorca possible starting lineup:
Reina; Sastre, Valjent, Olivan, Costa; Baba, Galarreta; Ndiaye, Rodriguez, Lee; Nino
Levante possible starting lineup:
Fernandez; Miramon, Vezo, Pier, Clerc; De Frutos, Martinez, Radoja, Melero; Marti, Morales
We say: Mallorca 1-2 Levante
While they are yet to impress this season, Saturday presents arguably one of the best chances for Levante to put a win on the board, and we see them scraping over the line.
Even without a number of key players, the Granotes have a relatively strong squad, and they are capable of defeating the newly-promoted outfit who are also lacking confidence.
Top tip
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 Mallorca win with a probability of 46.76%. A draw had a probability of 28.8% and a win for Levante had a probability of 24.41%.
The most likely scoreline for a Mallorca win was 1-0 with a probability of 15.39%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (9.85%) and 2-1 (8.25%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (12.9%), while for a Levante win it was 0-1 (10.08%). The actual scoreline of 1-0 was predicted with a 15.4% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted a 1-0 win for Mallorca in this match.
