Real Sociedad vs Alaves prediction: SPAIN: LaLiga betting tips on match 2024-08-27 19:30.
[p]Real Sociedad bounced back from an opening day defeat against Rayo Vallecano (2-1), opening their La Liga account for the season by beating Espanyol 1-0 last weekend. Last season’s sixth-place finishers had to remain patient before Takefusa Kubo popped up with the winner in the 80th minute – a key result as Imanol Alguacil’s men look to establish themselves among the frontrunners before European football clouds their schedule. [/p]
[p]The Reale Arena faithful will want an improvement on their home defeat to Rayo, and after ending last season with a 2-0 defeat against Atlético Madrid in San Sebastián, Sociedad are at risk of losing three successive home La Liga matches for the first time since February 2007. Their recent home record against Alavés should help alleviate some of those fears, since Sociedad have lost just one of their last 11 home H2Hs against their upcoming visitors (W8, D2). [/p]
[p]That record contributes to Alavés’ poor showings in Basque derbies of late, where they’ve failed to win of the last 11 such games in La Liga (D4, L7). Their start to this top-flight season has been similarly disappointing, having begun the campaign with a 2-1 defeat against Celta Vigo, before marginal improvements were shown in their 0-0 draw with Real Betis last time out. [/p]
[p]It’s proven a harsh reality check for a side who would’ve been on a high coming into this season having secured a first top-half finish in La Liga since 2016/17 last term. The onus will lie on manager Luis GarcĂa to correct their course here, as Sociedad will become the team he has faced more than any other from the dugout, with this set to be his 17th encounter against them (W4, D6, L6). [/p]
[p]Players to watch: The home crowd will once again be hoping Kubo can get himself on the scoresheet, since his winner against Espanyol extended his incredible record of winning 15 of the 16 games he’s scored in for Soceidad (D1). Another man with a winning habit when scoring is Alavés’ new signing Stoichkov, whose last five goals have all served as the match winner. [/p]
[p]Hot stat: Sociedad have failed to win 11 of their last 19 home league matches when starting as pre-match favourites (D6, L5).[/p]
[p][i]Written by Peter Stavrinou[/i][/p]