Alaves is putting up a real fight to survive in LaLiga. With the change of manager for Jose Luis Mendilibar they’ve shown improvement in general gameplay and, particularly, defensive organization.

This comes as no surprise as Mendilibar made a name for himself in the Spanish top flight with good work at SD Eibar, where had earned a legend status with 248 games in charge. Eibar and Alaves are in many ways similar clubs, first of all, in terms of financial resources.

Mendilibar is used to working with weak squads and usually makes them give 100% in any game. This said, all the troubles Alaves gave to some big opponents in 2022 is totally understandable.

However, there is one clear trend for the 19th positioned team - they tend to struggle on the road. 0-4 against Betis or the most recent 0-3 vs. Real Madrid at the Bernabeu underline this tendency perfectly. Even the 2-2 draw vs. Getafe on February 26 saw the team defend for almost 90 minutes of the game. In turn, on home soil Alaves is doing considerably better.

Sociedad are in the run to finish inside the Champions League zone yet again. They are losing badly now to in-form Barcelona and are aware a game like this has to be won at any cost, or they are settling only for Europa League (as the best case scenario).

Sociedad had a minor decline in form in 2022, but I’d explain it by squad issues (number of injuries to regulars) and their involvement in Europe (games vs. Red Bull Leipzig).

After getting knocked out from Europa League and the Spanish Cup, Sociedad have only LaLiga to focus on and this must work to their benefit.

A narrow home win is on the cards here.