Girona vs Almeria prediction: SPAIN: LaLiga betting tips on match 2023-10-21 14:15.
Girona received a harsh reality check from Real Madrid at the end of September in a 3-0 defeat, but it didn’t appear to throw them off course, as a 1-0 win at Cádiz was their third victory ‘to nil’ of this La Liga (LL) season and helped them retain second place in the standings ahead of this round. A pair of home games against relegation contenders Almería and Celta Vigo now presents a wonderful opportunity to continue applying pressure to the league leaders.
From the depths of losing six of his first ten Segunda División games as Girona boss in 2021/22, manager Míchel has come a tremendously long way in a short space of time. It would therefore only be fitting that his 100th competitive game in charge of the club would see them defeat the Segunda División winners of that season, Almería, a side he has beaten a joint-high five times in his managerial career.
Whilst Girona celebrate 100 matches of one era, Almería will begin a new one. Spanish journeyman Gaizka Garitano left Eibar at the end of last season after failing to get promoted back to the first division and was signed by Almería during the recent international window. He becomes their third head coach of this season including caretaker Alberto Lasarte, who returns to the reserves team after overseeing successive failures to win prior to the international break (D1, L1).
Therefore, LL’s last-placed side are starting with a clean slate after registering one of the worst nine-game starts to a LL season by any team this century (D3, L6). Garitano is confident that their place in this league can be saved with 29 rounds still to play, but has publicly asked supporters to be patient, telling the media at his official unveiling that their rut is “not a situation that we can get out of in one to two weeks or even a month”.
Players to watch: There were an astounding ten different goalscorers across the two LL H2Hs of last season, including veteran Cristhian Stuani who recorded Girona’s final goal of each game. After he delivered a hat-trick of assists against Granada (D 3-3) two games back, Largie Ramazani may be hungry to replicate the goal he scored in his previous trip to Girona, the club he has faced more times (six) than any other.
Hot stat: Almería conceded 2+ goals in all but one of their last ten LL matches.