Osasuna vs Leganes prediction: SPAIN: LaLiga betting tips on match 2024-08-16 17:00.
[p]After an underwhelming campaign in which they finished 11th – their joint-lowest finish since being relegated from La Liga in 2016/17 – Osasuna parted ways with long-term predecessor Jagoba Arrasate and will begin this season under the guidance of Vicente Moreno. Transfer activity has largely been thin on the ground for Los Rojillos, they did sell influential centre-back and captain David GarcĂa to Qatari side Al-Rayyan, but the loan arrival from Bayern Munich of Bryan Zaragoza has brought much excitement. [/p]
[p]Moreno’s competitive reign begins against LeganĂ©s, who are back in Spain’s top tier after four years away. Osasuna won’t be cowed by facing newly promoted opposition, having gone six matches unbeaten at home against such teams (W5, D1). Another statistical quirk in their favour is that they haven’t lost on an opening matchday in any of the last five seasons (W4, D1) – a streak which oddly started with a 1-0 win at LeganĂ©s in 2019. [/p]
[p]Saturday’s visitors may therefore be forgiven for thinking a victory is a remote possibility, but ending 2023/24 with just one defeat in 13 encounters (W6, D6) will surely have bred confidence. Some of that run also formed part of the best away record in the Spanish second tier last term (W9, D6, L6), while belief will be reinforced after some astute signings have been made so far during this window.[/p]
[p]Former Sevilla duo Ă“scar RodrĂguez and Marko Dmitrović from Sevilla are among those to have arrived on free transfers, bringing with them some much-needed top-flight experience. But while it is paramount that established and new players alike hit the ground running, LeganĂ©s fans may not be confident that their side can deliver the goods in Pamplona if they are aware of the fact that Los Pepineros have lost each of their last three matchday-one outings, scoring just once in the process. [/p]
[p]Players to watch: After struggling for goals and regular starts in 2023/24, Raul GarcĂa netted three times in four games at the end of the campaign, including twice in a memorable 4-1 win at AtlĂ©tico Madrid. LeganĂ©s will be relying on the sharp shooting of last term’s leading club marksman Miguel de la Fuente, whose goals last season were all scored in matches that the team either won or drew (W8, D2). [/p]
[p]Hot stat: Seven of Osasuna’s last eight competitive games have been 1-0 at half-time. [/p]
[p][i]Written by Alex Bowmer[/i][/p]