Reason For Betting Tips
Sevilla have responded well to those two Super Cup defeats and new boss Jorge Sampaoli will be delighted with how his side has gone both in La Liga and the Champions League so far. The only real setback was a 3-1 defeat at Athletic Bilbao last weekend. However the Argentine boss will feel his decision to rotate the side was vindicated by a 1-0 win over Lyon in a key Champions League game on Tuesday. The Andalusians are now well placed to make the last 16 of that competition following a draw at Juventus in their first game.
In La Liga they are in 6th place but will briefly go 2nd and move level on points with leaders Real Madrid if they can win this. They have won all three home games so far in La Liga and will fancy they can see off Alaves here.
The Basques have started brightly too though with 9 points from their opening 6 games including that famous win at Barcelona. Perhaps just as important though was their 3-1 win at home to Granada on Monday. It was only their Second victory and demonstrated they do have the firepower required to see off the weaker sides at home having only drawn their previous two home games against Sporting Gijon and Deportivo La Coruna.
Their performances in tough trips to Barcelona and Atletico Madrid, where they also got a point, suggest we shouldn’t assume anything here. Sevilla clearly have more quality and while they’ve won all their home games in the league, they haven’t been totally convincing so far. They conceded 4 at home to Espanyol on the opening day and were trailing Las Palmas until a dramatic turnaround in the final few minutes of their second home game. Real Betis had a good goal chalked off when they visited in the Seville derby so Alaves, who have scored in all their away games so far, should get chances in this one.
Head To Head
The last 5 meetings between these sides have been won by the team playing at home but over 10 years have passed since they last met in a game that featured 3 red cards and a 2-1 Alaves win.
Stats
Both teams have scored in 6 of Sevilla's last 8 league games and in 4 of Alaves' 6 games since their return to the top flight.
Team News
Sampaoli is likely to continue with his rotation policy. However it should be a stronger team than the one that travelled to Bilbao last weekend with Steven N'Zonzi and Franco Vazquez likely to keep their places in midfield. Wissam Ben Yedder is hoping to keep his place up front having scored the decisive goal in the Champions League win over Lyon.
Defender Zouhair Feddal is still out injured. Mauricio Pellegrino isn't expected to change much from the side that won on Monday.
