La Liga: Almeria vs. Levante

Posted on | March 29, 2008 | No Comments

Life is pretty sweet for Almeria fans at the moment. At the beginning of the season they were fearing the worst and most experts had the team as sure candidates for going straight back down to the second division. However, after seven months of competition, Almeria are more than holding their own, and now occupy the relatively safe position of tenth in the league and just six points from a place in the UEFA cup. What’s more, they have lost just two matches from the last twelve, haven’t lost at home since December, and picked up four points from their two – two draw with Barcelona and that memorable win over Real Madrid. This Sunday they play hosts to a Levante side that is sitting at the bottom of the league and thirteen points from salvation, needing nothing less than a miracle to escape certain relegation.
The down side is that Almeria haven’t won a game in five attempts, having drawn three matches they should really have won. Levante are in an even worse state though, having lost their last three matches and even the players as well as the fans know that their fate has been pretty much sealed. The truth is that the Levante players have lost their faith in the team, and have accepted the fact that the club will be relegated. When players aren’t being paid and have problems paying bills doesn’t help much either, and I doubt if any of them really care about the future of Levante.
I would have gone for a home win here but the home side do have some injury problems. Almeria have proved that they are capable of surviving in the top flight of Spanish football, something which cannot be said for Levante. Almeria coach Unai Emery has done a marvelous job in molding his players into a fighting unit, and although they haven’t scored many goals (only Levante have scored less) they really take advantage of the goals they do score (they have conceded twenty eight, the same as Real Madrid). I’m going some a score draw, but don’t expect to see lots of goals here.
Prediction: Draw (1-1)

Related posts:

1. La Liga: Levante vs. Betis
2. La Liga: Zaragoza vs. Almeria
3. La Liga: Racing de Santander vs. Almeria
4. La Liga: Atlético Madrid vs. Almeria
5. La Liga: Sevilla vs. Almeria

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