Deportivo Alaves vs Huesca

Ciudad Deortiva Jose Luis Companon sets the stage for a low-profile friendly clash between familiar foes Deportivo Alaves and Huesca.

Last season was a resounding success for Deportivo Alaves as they secured an unlikely mid-table finish in La Liga despite averaging under one goal per game. Goalscoring woes have continued to torment Luis Garcia Plaza’s team in pre-season. Except for a 2-1 win against Tenerife, they’ve failed to score more than once in their five remaining summer friendlies. But despite their notoriously underwhelming attack, El Glorioso only lost one of those five matches (W2, D2), going down 1-0 to Hercules last time out. However, you’d need to go back to mid-April for the last time Deportivo Alaves suffered back-to-back defeats, reinforcing their bid to build on a three-game winning H2H streak against Huesca.

Two of Huesca’s last three encounters against Alaves have seen them lose via an identical 1-0 scoreline. That’s an ominous sign for the perennial Segunda Division strugglers, considering they’ve succumbed to that same full-time score in two consecutive outings in the build-up to this showdown. Like Alaves, Antonio Hidalgo’s men have been terminally unable to score goals, failing to get on the scoresheet in three of their last four fixtures, highlighting the potential for another tepid affair. Adding to the prospect of an uneventful contest, four of Huesca’s five off-season exhibition matches have seen one or both teams fail to score in matches garnering under 2.5 goals.