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Sevilla will be looking to keep pace with Barcelona at the top of La Liga this Sunday as they entertain Girona at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan. It has been a decent week for the Andalusian side but they take on a Girona side that is also enjoying a great season and has been getting results in tough away games.
Indeed the Catalan club were unbeaten away heading into Monday night’s trip to Athletic Bilbao but La Liga’s only remaining unbeaten away record went as the Basques scored a stoppage time penalty to seal a 1-0 win. Girona could have gone 5th had they won that match and overall things are going well under Eusebio, although they have ridden their luck at times and remain dependent on Cristhian Stuani for goals, with the Uruguayan having netted 65% of his team’s total.
Sevilla have been sharing the goals around a bit better and it was Wissam Ben Yedder who was the hero in midweek. He scored twice in the opening 10 minutes to set Sevilla up for victory in a decisive final Europa League group game against Krasnodar. That ensured progress in Europe but Sevilla will still be wondering how they failed to win at Valencia last weekend with the visitors spurning several good chances before letting in an injury time leveller.
This game will see Pablo Machin come up against the side he left to join Sevilla in the summer and he has reason to expect the three points. Girona aren’t quite as good as their results suggest in truth and the fact they’ve only created 1.16 expected goals in La Liga this term but conceded 1.7 suggests they have been a little fortunate at times. They were second best against struggling Athletic last time out, conceding 2.95 expected goals whilst creating precious little themselves.
Sevilla have players with the finishing qualities to better exploit a Girona side that is short on numbers right now with numerous injury problems. Sevilla have a few absentees too but they have a much bigger squad and have been juggling the demands of European and domestic action pretty well. They’ve been very solid at home again, winning 71% of their home games in La Liga and it’s now 9 straight victories at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan for Sevilla in all competitions.
Sevilla continues to impress with its game at home with only 1 lose which came on 16/09/18 against Getafe out of 10. Girona come into this game with only 2 victories in the last 10 away games and these were against Villarreal and Valencia. The only top-flight H2H meetings have both ended in 1-0 wins to Sevilla after a goalless first half and one club friendly which also ended with the same result. Sevilla come into this game with boosted morale after a giant victory over Krasnodar in the European League, a victory which meant that they proceeded to a playoff . That result also included an eighth Straight victory at Estadio Sanchez Pizjuan.
A win in today's game will see Sevilla going to the second place on the table (ahead of round 16) - three points behind the FC Barcelona. Three points against Girona are therefore a must for Seville's part, if they want to join Barcelona and Atletico Madrid to chase the title and these are the kind of games they'd win.