Valencia vs Cadiz

Cadiz’s bid to secure La Liga survival faces a stern test in the shape of mid-table Valencia as the two sides go head-to-head at the Estadio de Mestalla.

Valencia’s embarrassing 4-1 home defeat to Barcelona in mid-February proved a wake-up call as Jose Bordalas’ men head into proceedings having won three of their last four La Liga matches (D1). Despite Valencia’s almost perfectly-balanced top-flight record after 29 La Liga matchdays (W10, D10, L9), ‘Los Murcielagos’ could still return to European competition after a season-long absence. Valencia currently languish eight points adrift of seventh-placed Real Sociedad, which requires a substantial winning streak to make up ground on the Basque outfit. Cadiz’s lacklustre position in the league standings could deceive the home crowd into believing this could be another day in the office. However, Valencia’s three-game winless H2H league from (D2, L1) suggests otherwise, especially considering they’ve netted a paltry average of 0.66 goals per game in that sequence.

In the meantime, Cadiz’s narrow 1-0 home win over Villarreal last time out made it two victories in three La Liga fixtures (L1), just one success fewer than in their first 26 league matches of the season (D12, L11). ‘El Submarino Amarillo’ are following the example of ‘better late than never’ as they come into this matchday one point clear of 18th-placed Mallorca. Following an uneventful ‘nil-nil’ draw at Nuevo Mirandilla in the reverse fixture, Cadiz and Valencia could share the spoils in back-to-back La Liga meetings for the first time in history. Cadiz’s reputation as La Liga’s ‘stalemate kings’ could facilitate that scenario, with Sergio Gonzalez’s men drawing a league joint-high 12 top-flight games this season. However, the visitors have lost 50% of their away La Liga matches this season (7/12), including three of the last five by an aggregate score of 6-1 (W1, D1).