Sporting Gijon vs Valencia
Spanish La Liga
Date: Sunday, 16th October 2016,
Kick-Off at 17:30 UK.
Venue: Estadio El Molinon, Gijon.
Sporting Gijon and Valencia have both struggled to find wins early in the new season. After seven rounds of competitions, the two teams have only managed to score two wins each, which put them in the bottom quarter of the league table.
Sporting was nipped by Deportivo La Coruna, 1-2, on the road at the Estadio Municipal de Riazor during the last round on Oct. 1 before the international break, as per SkySports.
Costa Rican midfielder Celso Borges opened the scoring in the 35th minute for Deportivo, giving the hosts a one-point lead at the halftime break.
Head coach Abelardo Fernández's side was able to find the equalizer in the 65th with a six-yard header from midfielder Sergio Alvarez, but Deportivo grabbed back the lead in injury time courtesy of a goal from Dutch forward Ryan Babel.
It was the fourth consecutive defeat for Sporting which dropped them to the 16th spot in the overall standings.
Meanwhile, Valencia continues to be in the bottom three relegation zone after seven matches. After starting the new season with a four-game losing slide, they won two straight games to finally get on the board in the league table.
However, the two-game winning run was snapped on Oct. 2 as they were blanked by league leaders Atletico Madrid, 0-2, at their home field of Mestalla Stadium in the previous round, Goal reported.
The game was scoreless until the 63rd minute when Atleti forward Antoine Griezmann broke the deadlock with a left-footer off an assist by teammate Kevin Gameiro.
Gameiro then doubled the lead in stoppage time, this time with the pass coming from defender Juanfran.
It was the fifth loss of the season for head coach Cesare Prandelli's men as only Osasuna and Granada are lower than them in the standings.
Sporting Gijon vs Valencia: Head-to-Head Stats
Valencia earned a 1-0 win in the corresponding fixture of last season at the El Molinon. But lost the fixture at Mestalla to Gijon by the same margin.
Valencia were on a three match winning run against Gijon before the defeat at Mestalla at the end of last season. And were also undefeated in the last 8 La Liga fixtures.
Sporting Gijon vs Valencia: Prediction
Gijon are on a terrible run of form after losing in each of their last four La Liga fixtures. However, their home record is encouraging which reads 2 wins and a defeat from 3 matches so far. And the lone defeat have come against the defending Champions Barcelona.
Valencia have shown slight improvements lately after the sacking of Pako Ayestaran. But they will be facing a tough test when coming up against a side like Gijon away from home.
On the back of recent form, none of these sides are clear favourites to win this fixture. And we believe betting on full-time result for this match involves high amount of risk. At the same time both sides are leaking goals at the moment. Therefore, over 2.5 goals and both teams to score are perfect picks for this La Liga fixture.
Sporting Gijon vs Valencia: Betting Tips
Over 2.5 goals at 1.85 (6/7)
Both Teams to Score at 1.70 (7/10).
Prediction and Predicted Lineup
The predicted result is a 1-0 win for Valencia.
Sporting Gijon starting lineup (4-2-3-1 formation): Cuellar; Lillo, Babin, Mere, Lopez; Picon, Gomez; Rodriguez, Ndi, Burgui; Cop
Valencia starting lineup (4-2-3-1 formation): Alves; Montoya, Santos, Mangala, Gaya; Perez, Suarez; Cancelo, Parejo, Nani; Rodrigo
