Sevilla vs Real Valladolid

Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan forms the backdrop for Sevilla’s opening 2022/23 La Liga home match, with Real Valladolid coming to Andalusia to challenge last season’s fourth-place finishers.

After losing key defenders Jules Kounde and Diogo Carlos in the summer transfer window, Sevilla succumbed to a dismal 2-1 defeat at Osasuna on the opening La Liga weekend. They are now facing a frightening prospect of losing their first two matches of a new La Liga season for the first time since 1996. Without several significant first-team stars from the 2021/22 season, Sevilla’s bid to secure a fourth consecutive top-four finish looks somewhat weak. However, Valladolid’s visit to Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan could put some wind into their sails, with ‘Los Rojiblancos’ going unbeaten in their last nine top-flight H2Hs (W4, D5). Yet, Julen Lopetegui’s men only won twice across their six previous home league clashes against this opposition (D3, L1), meaning there’s no room for complacency.

In the meantime, newly-promoted Real Valladolid suffered a horrendous 3-0 home defeat to Villarreal on matchday one, taking their winless run in La Liga to 13 games (D6, L7). Having lost their last five La Liga outings in a row, they now stare down the barrel of a six-match losing streak in Spain’s top flight for the first time since 1997. There’s a silver lining for ‘Los Pucelanos’ here, as they netted precisely two goals in four of their final five away league matches of last season (W4, D1). Against this backdrop, Pacheta’s lads have scored under 1.5 goals in each of their seven previous H2H clashes against Sevilla (D3, L4).