Sevilla vs Almeria prediction: SPAIN: LaLiga betting tips on match 2023-03-11 15:15.
Sevilla ended a run of three consecutive competitive losses by establishing a crucial 2-0 advantage in Thursday’s Europa League round of 16 first-leg tie at home to Fenerbahçe. Manager Jorge Sampaoli was keen to talk up the impact that continental success could have on their increasingly dire fight for La Liga (LL) survival, which is understandable as they begin this round level on points with 18th-placed upcoming opponents AlmerĂa, in a game of great importance to both sides.
Since his arrival in October 2022, Sampaoli has continued to fall short in his quest to drag Sevilla away from the danger zone. He, though, believes the self-esteem across the group following Thursday’s win is “high ” and will now surely hope that can be the launch pad they need to string together a series of strong results in the league. The chances of that starting here must be high as Sevilla come into this one boasting an unbeaten home league record (W4, D3) against clubs starting the round ninth or below.
It nonetheless remains an ideal opportunity for AlmerĂa to leapfrog Sevilla out of the relegation zone given the extra days they have had to prepare for this fixture, particularly after they took advantage of Barcelona’s busy schedule two rounds ago to secure a shock 1-0 win just three days after Barça were eliminated from the Europa League. But that was within the comforts of home, where 22 of their 25 LL points to date have been collected.
After acknowledging the six-day turnaround that preceded last round’s 2-0 home loss to Villarreal was “not easy”, manager Rubi should appreciate the extra time available this week. AlmerĂa’s likelihood of surviving the season will probably depend on ending their winless streak away from home (D3, L8), a curse that has followed Rubi across two clubs now after he failed to win each of his last 19 LL away games (D7, L11) in charge of either AlmerĂa or Real Betis.
Players to watch: Sevilla forward Youssef En Nesyri opened the scoring in each of their last two LL home wins while Largie Ramazani opened AlmerĂa’s account in their win over Sevilla in the reverse H2H, and also scored in their last away trip.
Hot stat: AlmerĂa have conceded the opening goal in all but one of their eight LL away losses this season.