In the only game this Wednesday, January 3, for the round of 16 Spanish Cup 2017/2018 edition between the teams of the First Division, Las Palmas and Valencia open the duel for survival in the tournament from 18h from Brasilia). The dispute takes place at the Gran Canaria stadium in Las Palmas.
The recent performance of Las Palmas
The owners of the house do not perform well in the season. In the last ten matches, they only won twice. They also tied twice and were defeated in six games. The most recent of them on December 20, before the end of the Spanish Championship for the holidays, to Getafe, away from home, by 2 to 0.
This left the team in the twentieth (final) position of the tournament. He has 11 points (three wins, two draws and 12 losses). With 21 days to go, the situation is reversible. The distance to the Alaves, seventeenth and first out of the relegation zone, is four points.
However, the rather lean cast indicates that the King’s Cup should be left in the background so that the club can devote to its most important goal for the season, which is the stay in the elite division of Spanish football. Next Saturday, January 6, the team receives Eibar.
To make matters worse, the team does not have a coach yet. On December 5, Las Palmas announced the hiring of Jorge Almirón, who was runner-up of the 2017 edition of the Copa Libertadores de América in the direction of Lanús. He should replace the sacked Pako Ayestaran. However, because he did not have the necessary experience in accordance with the norms of Uefa (entity that controls European football), he was not approved. He ended up accepting an offer from Atlético Nacional, Colombia.
The current form of Valencia
If the rival is aimless, the situation of Valencia in the last round was not much different. After a spectacular start to the season even dueling for first place in the Spanish league with Barcelona, the club suffered three defeats in the last four matches.
It fell to the third position. He has 34 points (ten wins, four draws and three losses). They are 11 less than Barca, leader, and two of disadvantage in comparison with Atletico Madrid, runner-up. Real Madrid, fourth placed, is three points behind.
Thus, the stop for the Christmas and New Year celebrations was warmly welcomed by coach Marcelino Garcia Toral so that his team can resume the way. To help him, striker Simone Zaza (15 matches in the 2017/2018 Spanish Championship, ten goals), who is suspended in the Spanish Championship, can play in the King’s Cup. The same is true for defender Martin Montoya (14 matches, goal).
History of the bouts between Las Palmas and Valencia
There were 11 matches involving the teams throughout history. Valencia won six of them. In this list is the most recent duel, in August, by LaLiga (1 to 0). Las Palmas’ successes were three and draws two.
Facing a Las Palmas runaway, Valencia appears as the best option to guess. It has a price of 2.05 in Rivalo. Draw yields a prize of 3.40 and success of the owners of the house pays 3.60 for each real bet.
