Valencia will be looking to make it three wins in a row when they host Osasuna in La Liga on Sunday. Osasuna are ninth in the table with six points from its first two league games in 2023–24. Los Che are in third place with six points from their first two games.
Preview (Valencia vs. Osasuna)
Valencia’s sole notable accomplishment last season was avoiding relegation. With a total of 42 points from 38 games, they finished in 16th place. This summer, Los Che was only able to acquire three new players to their roster. Most recently, Sergi Canos joined the team, joining Cenk Ozkacar and Pepelu. When the new season began, some Valencia fans were nervous, but the squad got off to a great start. They defeated Sevilla and Las Palmas in their first two games to earn six points out of a possible six.
Last Friday, Pepelu’s 74th-minute penalty at Mestalla gave them the victory over Las Palmas. This season, head coach Ruben Baraja plans to turn his team’s home ground into a fortress. Valencia defeated Osasuna in both games played between the two teams last season despite their difficulties. It includes a 1-0 win in a comparable matchup back in March. Osasuna finished eighth in La Liga last year, qualifying them for the semifinals of the Europa Conference League. The team needs to do a lot of work in the second leg in Belgium next week. After Los Rojillos’ 2-1 home loss to Club Brugge in the opening leg of the European match on Thursday night.
On August 13, Jagoba Arrasate’s team defeated Celta Vigo 2-0 to start their La Liga campaign. However, last weekend, they suffered a league loss at home to Athletic Bilbao, losing 2-0. In order for Osasuna to advance to the group stage of the Europa Conference League playoff, they will need to put up a great performance in the second leg against an in-form Valencia and the defending champions Barcelona on either side of their journey to Brugge. Raul Garcia was the most expensive addition to Arrasate’s team’s roster this summer.
Team News
Alberto Mari will still be absent for Valencia in this game, while it is anticipated that Marcos de Sousa will once again be sidelined with a knee injury. Canos is scheduled to make his debut, but the Spaniard is not expected to start because head coach Baraja might go with the same lineup that faced Las Palmas at the start of the game. Hugo Duro and Andre Almeida are currently playing as a forward tandem. It is anticipated to happen here as well. Javi Guerra is likely to make an appearance off the bench at some point during the game.
The majority of the starting lineup from the European game will still be used, with Jon Moncayola, Aimar Oroz, and Lucas Torro all expected to play in midfield. Due to Osasuna’s obligations in Europe, Valencia is the team in form and will undoubtedly be the freshest of the two clubs. However, because we still don’t fully believe that Los Che will win the games they should, we are picking Osasuna to recover from a string of defeats and pick up a much-needed point.
Valencia 1 – 1 Osasuna
For more football previews, click here
