Osasuna will be looking to recover from back-to-back defeats in Spain's top flight when they continue their 2020-21 campaign at home to Huesca on Friday night.
Los Rojillos have lost their last two La Liga encounters to Atletico Madrid and Sevilla to drop to 13th in the table, while Huesca are rock bottom and still without a league victory this season.
Match preview
© Reuters
Osasuna were excellent on their return to Spain's top flight last season, picking up 52 points from their 38 matches to secure 10th position in the table, just four points off the Europa League positions.
Jagoba Arrasate's side have struggled for consistency in the early weeks of the 2020-21 campaign, though, collecting just 10 points from eight matches to sit down in 13th spot in the division.
Goals have been a problem for Los Rojillos - managing just seven in their eight La Liga fixtures - while they will enter Friday's clash off the back of successive defeats to Atletico and Sevilla.
Osasuna will view Friday's match as hugely important considering that their next fixture is away to Barcelona on November 29, and a few poor results could easily see them drop towards the bottom of the table.
Arrasate's side have won two of their last three league matches on home soil, though, and will certainly fancy their chances of overcoming the league's basement side on Friday night.
© Reuters
There is no getting away from the fact that it has been a disappointing start to the season for Huesca, who won the Segunda Division last term to secure a return to this level of football.
Michel's side have actually only lost three of their nine league matches in 2020-21 but zero wins and six draws has left them bottom of the table heading into Friday's clash.
Only Real Betis (17) have conceded more La Liga goals than Huesca (15) this season, while the newly-promoted outfit have lost 4-1 in their last two away league games with Real Sociedad and Real Madrid.
Huesca picked up a draw against Eibar before the international break, though, and have also taken points off Real Valladolid, Elche, Atletico, Valencia and Villarreal in the early stages of the campaign.
Osasuna La Liga form: LWDWLL
Huesca La Liga form: DDDLLD
Team News
© Reuters
Osasuna will be without the services of Lucas Torro, Juan Manuel Perez, Aridane Hernandez and Jonathan Calleri through injury, while Ezequiel Avila faces a battle to play again this season due to a serious knee issue.
Torro's absence in the middle of the park could see Oier come into the XI, while Roberto Torres is also pushing for a spot in the side, having appeared off the bench against Sevilla last time out.
Enric Gallego is expected to keep his spot in the final third of the field, though, and the Spaniard could again be joined by Ante Budimir, who has scored once in two league outings this term.
As for Huesca, Antonio Valera remains on the sidelines with a shoulder problem, but the visitors are otherwise in good shape when it comes to absentees.
Sandro Ramirez and Rafa Mir started as the front two against Eibar and that is again expected to be the case on Friday night, with David Ferreiro and Borja Garcia operating in the wide areas.
Javi Ontiveros, Eugeni and Juan Carlos are options for change, but head coach Michel could decide to keep faith with the starting XI that came from behind to draw with Eibar at Estadio El Alcoraz before the international break.
Osasuna possible starting lineup:
Herrera; Roncaglia, U Garcia, D Garcia, Cruz; Torres, Moncayola, Oier, Jony; Budimir, Gallego
Huesca possible starting lineup:
Fernandez; Lopez, Insua, Siovas, Galan; B Garcia, Rico, Mosquera, Ferreiro; Sandro, Mir
We say: Osasuna 2-1 Huesca
Osasuna will be determined to return to winning ways after successive defeats, and we fancy the hosts to triumph on Friday night. Huesca, for all their problems, have only lost three times this season, but we are finding it difficult to back the league's basement side to pick up a positive result here.
Top betting tip
Matt Law
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 Huesca win with a probability of 35.63%. A win for Osasuna had a probability of 35.1% and a draw had a probability of 29.3%.
The most likely scoreline for a Huesca win was 0-1 with a probability of 12.35%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (7.37%) and 0-2 (6.78%). The likeliest Osasuna win was 1-0 (12.23%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (13.42%). The actual scoreline of 1-1 was predicted with a 13.4% likelihood.
