La Liga: Eibar- Osasuna

 

I spoke about how Eibar had started this season ahead of their trip to Granada last month .........

I discussed Granada's trip to Las Palmas before the weekend break and you can read those notes in full on the clubgowi website .That played out perfectly with the home side winning 5-1 and Granada look to have a lot of jigsaw pieces to put into place, have them spread all over the changing room floor and until they do, we can look to oppose them when odds are attractive. Eibar opened with a narrow loss at Deportivo and then beat Valencia by the minimum score, they looked very solid and organised in both and were very unfortunate to lose the first where they led, then conceded a goal from an individual error and a late winner to a hotly disputed penalty, when there appeared little danger and minimal contact. They should have taken and deserved a point and I do not think they are going to be easy to score against this season, especially once they have found some rhythm, they scored 8 in winning both league meetings with Granada last season and a handicap start looks too good to let pass.
 

They won that 2-1 and have since lost by the same scoreline at Malaga, taken four points from home games with Sevilla and Real Sociedad and drawn on the road with Real Madrid, they will be quite pleased with that haul of 11 points and they can move to within two of a Champions League spot with the win tonight and whilst that would be faciful in the extreme ( top 4), it will enable them to dream and to go some way towards safety, which will be target number one for this season. They were 6th last Christmas before fading and know that a strong start, just makes everything so much easier and a small club like Eibar, can do a lot with the now big TV income in Spain. They led in that loss to Malaga, before conceding twice from very narrow angles, they are not giving teams many good looks at goal, could easily have another couple of points already and defensively are tough to break down.

I previewed Osasuna's home game with Espanyol last month, siding with the visitors and my notes included ..........

Sanchez Flores (Espanyol head coach) and his staff said they had done a lot of work on Osasuna, more than usual, as five defenders and two strikers was not something you faced very often, he has to replace Piatti today , but wants to rotate as little as possible, because the starting eleven need minutes and to bond right now.

These two teams have very similar records after four games, but Espanyol look superior and offensively have far more potential and Osasuna have yet to score in two home starts. Their high offensive line, inability to pick up runners into the box and poor marking from set pieces was rudely exposed by Sociedad here and Real in Madrid and this looks a very good opportunity for Espanyol to kick start their season. Hosts are without veteran right back Javier Flores again today, they have conceded one goal in 97 minutes with him on the pitch, 7 in 263 without him. Options for this position are limited, 18 yo Aitor Bunuel is very inexperienced, they felt they could not risk him against Real Madrid and played a centre back Tano Bonnin who has hardly featured, on the right and he was run ragged and later sent off for a second yellow, clearly an area for Espanyol to target with Jurado and/or Álvaro Vázquez.
 

Osasuna lost that 2-1 and have since drawn at home to Las Palmas and lost 3-1 at Villarreal, they are 19th currently and even three points tonight would not take them any higher and it is going to be a long battle against relegation for them. Home form is likely to decide their fate and they entertain Real Betis on Friday and attention could quickly switch to that, if things do not go their way early this evening. In terms of those defensive issues we discussed above, it is largely as you were for the visitors, it is easy to see 2-3 goals in this for Eibar who are strong on both flanks, with wide players Bebe and Pedro Leon having four goals between them. Antonio Luna and Sergi Enrich will be pleased to get back to football matters after their heavily publicised sex tape threesome, which I only mention as it is the only potential negative I can see for the hosts.
 

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