One Spanish La Liga game is going to happen on Thursday night and that is going to be between Real Madrid and Valencia. After 18 games played, Real has 13 wins, 3 draws, 2 losses, a total of 42 points and 2nd place in the standings while Valencia has 5 wins, 5 draws, 8 losses, a total of 20 points and 14th place. In this game, I'm predicting that Real will win.

Despite many wins, we can't say that Real has played well after the World Cup. In the Spanish Supercup, the team lost to Barcelona, in the Cup Real has earned 3 wins but mixed results have been in La Liga - 2 wins, a draw and a loss. Madrid lost to Villarreal on the road but drew against Real Sociedad just a few days ago. At home, Real has 5 wins and 3 draws, a total of 16 goals scored and 7 conceded which is tied for 2nd best result. Real is expected to score 2.46 goals at home (2nd best) and concede 1.16 (5th best).

It hasn't been the best performance for Valencia lately. The team has got 2 wins in the Cup but both were against lower-level teams and lost last week to Athletic. In La Liga, Valencia has lost 3 games and drew 1. Away from home, Valencia has only 1 win and 3 draws in 8 games, a total of 8 goals scored and 11 goals conceded. The team is expected to score 1.69 goals on the road and concede 1.68.

Real should have probably won the last game against Sociedad. The team controlled the ball more (61% to 39%), had way more shots (20 to 8), on target as well (8 to 3) and had much better xG (1.28 to 0.40). Even manager Carlo Ancelotti said that this was the best performance by the players this season. Madrid has drawn against Girona as well despite much better xG (2.59 to 1.42) and the same can be said about the game versus Osasuna when Karim Benzema missed a penalty and there was a huge difference in xG (2.53 to 0.53).

Valencia is playing so badly that the manager Gennaro Gattuso has left the team after spending just 7 months there. The team is only 1 point above the relegation zone, and captain Toni Lato admitted after the last game that these are difficult situations. In the last game, Valencia conceded the goal against Valladolid in the 90th minute.

Madrid's player Ferland Mendy got injured in the Cup game and won't be available for some time while David Alaba, Aurelien Tchouameni and Dani Carvajal should all be available to return. As for Valencia, Jaume Domenech and Nico Gonzalez are both ruled out, while Thierry Correia has missed the last four matches.

If Real wants to compete for the title, they can't afford to lose points again. This is a golden opportunity for the team as Real has won 4 of the last 5 meetings in La Liga. Real Madrid has not lost any of their last 15 La Liga matches played on a Thursday and have managed to win their last six such games. Valencia isn't in the best situation right now, they are bleeding and Real should secure 3 points.

本译文使用有道机器翻译，仅供参考：

一场西甲比赛将在周四晚上进行，那将是皇马和瓦伦西亚之间的比赛。经过18场比赛，皇马13胜3平2负，积42分，排名积分榜第2，瓦伦西亚5胜5平8负，积20分，排名第14。在这场比赛中，我预测皇马会赢。

尽管赢得了很多胜利，但我们不能说皇马在世界杯后踢得很好。在西班牙超级杯中，球队输给了巴塞罗那，在杯赛中皇马获得了3场胜利，但在西甲联赛中成绩喜忧参半——2胜1平1负。马德里在客场输给了比利亚雷亚尔，但几天前又战平了皇家社会。在主场，皇马取得5胜3平，共进16球失7球，并列第二。皇马预计在主场进2.46球(第二好)，丢1.16球(第五好)。

这不是瓦伦西亚最近最好的表现。球队在杯赛中取得了2场胜利，但都是对阵低水平球队，上周输给了竞技队。在西甲，瓦伦西亚输掉了3场比赛，1场战平。在客场，瓦伦西亚8场比赛仅取得1胜3平的战绩，共进8球失11球。球队在客场的进球数为1.69球，失球数为1.68球。

皇马本应该赢下上一场对阵Sociedad的比赛。球队控球率更高(61%比39%)，射门次数更多(20比8)，射正率也更高(8比3)，xG也更好(1.28比0.40)。甚至主教练安切洛蒂也说这是球员本赛季最好的表现。马德里在与赫罗纳的比赛中也取得了平局，尽管xG(2.59比1.42)要好得多，而在与奥萨苏纳的比赛中，本泽马罚丢了一个点球，xG(2.53比0.53)的差距也很大。

瓦伦西亚的表现如此糟糕，以至于主教练加图索在效力7个月后就离开了球队。球队只比降级区高出1分，队长托尼·拉托在上一场比赛后承认这是一个艰难的局面。在上一场比赛中，瓦伦西亚在第90分钟输给了巴利亚多利德。

马德里球员门迪在足总杯比赛中受伤，暂时无法复出，而阿拉巴、乔梅尼和卡瓦哈尔应该都可以复出。至于瓦伦西亚，多梅内克和冈萨雷斯都被排除在外，而蒂埃里·科雷亚已经错过了最近四场比赛。

如果皇马想要争夺冠军，他们不能再丢分了。这对球队来说是一个黄金机会，因为皇马在过去的5次西甲交锋中赢了4场。皇马在过去15场在周四进行的西甲比赛中没有输过一场，并且在最近6场这样的比赛中取得了胜利。瓦伦西亚现在的状态不是最好的，他们在流血，皇马应该能拿到3分。