Athletic Club v Getafe

The La Liga Santander weekend begins in Bilbao, where Athletic Club host Getafe in the Friday night game. San Mamés has become a fortress again for Athletic Club in recent weeks, as the Basques have won five and drawn one of their six matches played there in 2022. This is also a club and city that embraces Friday night football, so another boisterous atmosphere should be expected.

Getafe, on the other hand, are a poor away team. They’re still picking up enough points to hover above the relegation zone, but they remain the only LaLiga Santander team that still hasn’t won an away match all season. Of their 14 outings so far, they’ve had six draws and eight defeats. At a difficult venue to visit like San Mamés, Getafe aren’t expected to end this wait for a road win this matchday.

The home win is the clear option here, with Athletic Club playing well and doing a good job of breaking down tough defences at San Mamés, scoring many different types of goals. At the back, starting goalkeeper Unai Simón is a slight doubt, but he could still make it and the defence should be strong enough to limit Getafe’s shots anyway. This has all the makings of another Athletic Club home victory.

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Alavés v Granada

Alavés vs Granada is first up on Saturday and this is one of the most important fixtures in the relegation battle in what remains of the season. Going into this weekend, Alavés are 19th on 22 points and Granada are 17th on 25 points. Therefore, this match definitely merits the “six-pointer” label.

Given what is at stake, this could be a cagey and nervous affair. Given how poor both these sides are, it could also be a game lacking quality. Alavés and Granada are down near the bottom for a reason, with the former having just one victory from their past 10 LaLiga fixtures and the latter having no wins from their past 10 league games.

Neither side is scoring much, with Alavés netting just six goals over these past 10 games and Granada even worse with just five. Of course, they’ve both been conceding plenty, but Alavés’ defence has improved a little over the past two weeks as they earned a goalless draw with Sevilla and then lost just 1-0 at Real Sociedad.

Granada could be set for an improvement too, given that they sacked Roberto Moreno and replaced him with B team coach Rubén Torrecilla. The interim boss had his first game last weekend, a 1-0 defeat at home to Elche, but there were signs of improvement, especially in defence thanks to the switch to a back five. If Granada once again look to prioritise defence, this really could be a low-scoring affair when they make this trip to the Basque Country. Whether that’s enough for a first win in 11 matches is another matter.

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Elche v Valencia

Valencia make the short trip to take on regional neighbours Elche on Saturday afternoon and they do so with several absences in defence. Both their first-team left-backs – José Gayà and Antonio Lato – are set to miss out, while starting centre-back Gabriel, starting right-back Thierry Correia and starting goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen are all injury doubts too. That’s good news for Elche’s multi-pronged attack, which has seen Fidel, Pere Milla, Guido Carrillo and Ezequiel Ponce step up in recent weeks to offer more support to top scorer Lucas Boyé.

Valencia’s attack, meanwhile, will look to bounce back from their disappointing showing last week, when they failed to manage a shot on target away at Getafe. They kept misfiring in the final third, but had been playing well in the weeks before that and will look to exploit an Elche defence that struggles against pacey players, players like Valencia’s Bryan Gil and Gonçalo Guedes.

Both teams could find some joy in attach, then, and this could be yet another match involving Elche and Valencia in which both teams score. Valencia lead the division for matches in which both teams have scored, with 20 so far, while Elche are fifth in that category as 16 of their games have seen both teams find the back of the net.

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Osasuna v Levante

Of all the matches taking place this weekend, this is surely the one with the biggest difference in motivation levels between two opponents. Osasuna are in LaLiga Santander purgatory, firmly in mid-table as they’re 12 points away from European qualification and 11 points above the relegation zone. Levante, on the other hand, are still bottom of the table but are building up a head of steam, giving it all they’ve got and collecting eight of their 19 points in just the past five matches.

Levante will, therefore, relish this opportunity to move closer to safety, as they visit the team with the third-worst home record in the division. Osasuna’s El Sadar was just voted the best redeveloped stadium of the year this week, but, as lovely as their new surroundings are, they haven’t performed well at home this campaign and have just three victories in front of their home fans this season.

Osasuna also come into this game on the back of a demoralising 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Barcelona, where they spent the final hour just trying to keep the score down, so it could be tough for the players to find the right motivation for the challenge of this Saturday, especially since they have nothing to play for.

Levante have it all to play for, so this is a good opportunity for them to add to their points collection and to inch even closer to safety

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Rayo Vallecano v Atlético de Madrid

After their midweek heroics in the Champions League, Atlético Madrid need to refocus and target the three points on offer this Saturday night, since their qualification for the top UEFA tournament isn’t yet certain for next season. It’s an away game for Atleti, although they’ll only have to travel across the city as they pay a visit to neighbours Rayo Vallecano.

Having just defeated Manchester United to make it four wins in a row across all competitions, Atleti are in much better form than Rayo Vallecano, who have taken just two points from a possible 27 to start the calendar year of 2022. Their once Europe-leading home form has disappeared, affected by the off-the-pitch conflict between fans and owner. Therefore, Atlético Madrid are the obvious favourites for this match.

Diego Simeone’s men should have enough to secure the victory, but this might not be as easy as some think. Rayo Vallecano are a solid and well-organised team, one that can be difficult to break down. It’ll be especially difficult for Atlético Madrid to break them down using the counter-attacking approach that has worked so well for them in recent weeks, given that Rayo are smart enough to not overcommit bodies and hard-working enough to get back when possession is lost. Plus, there just isn’t much space for counter-attacking football, since this is such a small pitch.

Atleti should have enough to ultimately get the win against Rayo Vallecano, but it could be a very different kind of match to their recent victories. This could be more of a Luis Suárez type of game than a João Félix one.

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