Sevilla will be looking to stay in touch with La Liga leaders Real Madrid when they continue their league campaign at home to lowly Getafe on Sunday afternoon.
The home side are currently second in the table, five points behind leaders Real Madrid, who have played a game more, while Getafe occupy 16th, just two points clear of the relegation zone.
Match preview
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Sevilla are in a title race at this stage of the season, with the team picking up 41 points from their 19 matches, which has left them in second spot in the table, five points behind leaders Real Madrid with a game in hand.
Julen Lopetegui's side are also eight points clear of third-placed Real Betis and 10 points ahead of fifth-placed Barcelona, so the club are in an excellent position to secure a top-four finish in La Liga this term.
Los Nervionenses are currently competing on three fronts when it comes to trophies, having advanced in the Copa del Rey on Thursday night courtesy of a 2-0 victory at Real Zaragoza, while they will take on Dinamo Zagreb in the knockout round of the Europa League next month.
Sevilla shared the points with Barcelona before the winter break in Spain before recording a 1-0 victory over Cadiz last time out, with Lucas Ocampos scoring the winner in the 58th minute of the contest.
The 1945-46 La Liga champions have won each of their last five top-flight clashes against Getafe, including a 1-0 success when the two teams locked horns in the reverse match earlier this season.
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Getafe, meanwhile, were not in Copa del Rey action during the week, as the capital outfit incredibly lost 5-0 to Atletico Baleares in the second round of the competition in the middle of December.
As a result, Quique Sanchez Flores's side have not played since beating league leaders Real Madrid 1-0 last weekend, with Enes Unal's first-half effort proving to be the difference between the two sides.
Getafe have had their problems this season but are now unbeaten in their last six league games, winning their last two against Osasuna and Real Madrid, with the recent run helping them move into 16th spot in the table.
The capital outfit are still only two points clear of the relegation zone and therefore still have a lot of work to do if they are to avoid being relegated to the Segunda Division for next season.
Confidence should now be high in the camp, though, with the Deep Blue Ones suffering just one defeat in their last nine games in Spain's top flight, recording four victories in the process.
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Team News
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Sevilla will be missing some key players for this weekend's contest, with Erik Lamela, Thomas Delaney and Jesus Navas all out through injury, while Rafa Mir and Suso are doubts for the home side.
Youssef En-Nesyri is also unavailable for selection, having joined up with Morocco for the Africa Cup of Nations, which has left the team short of options at centre-forward.
Jules Kounde is available once again, though, having served a one-game league suspension last time out, while Joan Jordan and Marcos Acuna could both earn spots in the starting side.
As for Getafe, Sabit Abdulai remains out through injury, while Jose Macias, Vitolo and Chema Rodriguez are doubts for the visitors this weekend.
Mathias Olivera and Mauro Arambarri are also unavailable through suspension, meaning that there could be a spot in midfield for Florentino Luis, while Djene Dakonam is back from a ban of his own.
Unal scored the winner against Real Madrid last time out and should again be joined by Sandro Ramirez in the final third of the field, while Jonathan Silva could come into the team as the left-sided wing-back.
Sevilla possible starting lineup:
Dmitrovic; Montiel, Kounde, Carlos, Acuna; Rakitic, Fernando, Jordan; Gomez, Mir, Ocampos
Getafe possible starting lineup:
Soria; Mitrovic, Dakonam, Cuenca; Suarez, Florentino, Maksimovic, Alena, Silva; Unal, Sandro
We say: Sevilla 2-1 Getafe
Getafe will be feeling good about themselves at the moment due to their impressive run of form, but Sevilla simply have to win if they are to stay in the title race. The hosts will be missing some key players this weekend, but we fancy them to navigate their way to an important three points at Estadio Ramon.
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 Sevilla win with a probability of 54.24%. A draw had a probability of 25.7% and a win for Getafe had a probability of 20.04%.
The most likely scoreline for a Sevilla win was 1-0 with a probability of 14.52%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (11.16%) and 2-1 (9.18%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (11.93%), while for a Getafe win it was 0-1 (7.76%). The actual scoreline of 1-0 was predicted with a 14.5% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted a 1-0 win for Sevilla in this match and our team at Sports Mole correctly predicted the win for Sevilla.
