Osasuna will host Granada after suffering a thrashing at the hands of Real Madrid. This season, the home team has had difficulty staying consistent in La Liga. With 10 points, they are now in 12th place in the standings. Granada is in 19th place with six points from their first nine games.
Preview (Osasuna vs. Granada)
Osasuna had a fantastic 2022–2023 season, placing seventh in La Liga. They also made it to the Copa del Rey final for just the second time in the team’s history. However, Los Rojillos lost to Club Brugge in the playoffs. It preventing them from making it to the Europa Conference League group stage. They have struggled to start this season in Spain’s top division. They have managed to accumulate 10 points from nine games, with three victories, one tie, and five losses. However, this is only enough to place them in 12th place in the standings before the upcoming round of games.
After defeating Alaves 2-0 in their opening match of October, Real Madrid defeated them 4-0. It marked Jagoba Arrasate’s team’s fifth defeat of the year. Osasuna has won two of their last three games against Granada, going undefeated in the process. However, the points were shared in the 2021–22 meeting, which ended in a 1–1 tie. With nine league games played this season, Granada has recorded one victory, three draws, five losses, and a total of six points, placing them in 19th place in the standings. The Andalusian team’s performance in the Segunda Division allowed them to return to the top flight of Spain.
Although Paco Lopez’s team has struggled to establish themselves this season, they have won their previous three games and drew with Real Betis and Almeria before tying Barcelona 2-2 just before the international break, which surely gave them more confidence. Granada’s solitary victory of the season came against Mallorca 3-2 at home at the end of August. This season, they have shipped 23 goals in nine games. It is the second-worst defensive record in the division after Almeria (24). However, Lopez’s team managed to score 15 goals, with five coming from 22-year-old Bryan Zaragoza.
Team News
Due to injuries, Osasuna will be missing the services of three first-team players: Unai Garcia, Moi Gomez, and Johan Mojica. Arrasate is expected to make alterations to the starting lineup that began the four-goal defeat to Real Madrid, starting Pablo Ibanez, Ezequiel Avila, and Jose Arnaiz. But the head coach is supposed to resist the urge to change up his backline, thus Osasuna should once more field a back four, with Alejandro Catena joining David Garcia in the middle. Regarding Granada, Victor Diaz and Raul Fernandez are still out of the running because of injuries to their fingers and knees, respectively.
However, Lopez’s team did not discover any new problems against Barcelona, so it would not be shocking to see the same starting lineup against the reigning champions. The team’s best player thus far this season has been Zaragoza, but Myrto Uzuni and Lucas Boye have both scored three goals in the league in 2023–24, and both will start in the starting lineup. Given that Granada has shared the points in their last three league games, they are currently the draw experts. Here, we are witnessing yet another draw. In fact, Osasuna has only drawn once in their nine league games this season, but on Friday night, we are having trouble telling the two clubs apart.
Osasuna 1 – 1 Granada
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