Sevilla need a win here to keep the pressure on Atlético Madrid and hope for a place in next season’s Champions league. They threw away a great chance to go fourth last weekend when they drew away to Murcia and the match before that they surprisingly lost at home to Almeria by four goals to one. Sevilla need to get back to their winning ways and Valladolid should be just the team Sevilla need to get the three points and their European aspirations back on track.
Most of the talk in Sevilla at the moment is on which player will be the first to leave the club, and this may have caused the players to lose focus in recent weeks. Dani Alves (who has already been talking to Barcelona), Luis Fabiano (probably to Real Madrid) and Danish international Poulsen (also reportedly going to Barca) are just a couple of players who want out, and there might even be more.
Valladolid meanwhile did their survival hopes a lot of good last weekend when they beat Almeria by a goal to nil. They now find themselves four points above the drop and one more win should see them to safety. Valladolid coach José Luis Mendilibar though knows his side can’t relax and has been insistent that his players put their league position out of their heads. I’m not sure if his players will listen to him though, and after a grueling season they might well be a bit more relaxed than normal here. Playing at Sevilla’s Sanchez Pizjuan stadium is never an easy thing, and I’m pretty sure Valladolid are going to find that out the hard way. The two sides meet earlier on in the season and on that occasion the match ended in a goalless draw, but Sevilla were going through a bad spell at the time. Now with everything to play for, Sevilla will go out to grab the three points as early as possible, knowing full well that they take on Racing de Santander away the week after and six points from the next two games could see them in the Champions league.
Prediction: Home win (3-1)