Almeria's search for their first victory of the 2023-24 La Liga campaign will continue on Monday evening, with Sevilla the visitors to Power Horse Stadium.
The home side remain bottom of the table, picking up just nine points from 27 matches this season, which has left them 15 points from safety with 11 games left, while Sevilla sit 14th, eight points clear of the bottom three.
Match preview
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Unless something quite extraordinary happens in the closing stages of the campaign, Almeria will be playing Segunda Division football next season.
There is no getting away from the fact that it has been a desperately disappointing campaign for La Union, with the team boasting a record of zero wins, nine draws and 18 defeats from 27 matches to collect nine points, which has left them rock bottom of the table with 11 games left.
Gaizka Garitano's side are 15 points behind 17th-placed Celta Vigo, and they will enter the match off the back of a 1-0 defeat to Rafael Benitez's team, which put a serious dent in their already-slim survival hopes.
Almeria had drawn three straight games against Athletic Bilbao, Granada and Atletico Madrid before losing narrowly at Celta on March 1, and they will bring the worst home record in the division into this match, having picked up just seven points from 13 games in front of their own supporters.
UDA suffered a 5-1 defeat to Sevilla in the reverse match between the two sides earlier this season, but they did record a 2-1 victory when the pair locked horns in the corresponding fixture during the 2022-23 campaign.
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Sevilla finished 12th in Spain's top flight last season, which proved to be their lowest final position in La Liga since being relegated at the end of the 1999-2000 campaign.
Los Nervionenses have again struggled this term, with a total of 27 points from 27 matches leaving them down in 14th position in the table, but they are now eight points clear of the relegation zone.
Quique Sanchez Flores's side appear to have turned a corner over the last month, winning three, drawing one and losing one of their last five league matches, which has included victories over Atletico Madrid and Real Sociedad, while they only narrowly lost (1-0) at Real Madrid.
Sevilla have picked up 10 points from their 13 matches on their travels this season, recording just two wins in the process, but there has been a clear improvement in their last two away games, drawing 0-0 with Valencia before losing 1-0 to Real Madrid.
There is unlikely to be any European football at the club next season, with 15 points separating them from sixth-placed Real Betis, which will allow them to focus on enjoying a more successful domestic campaign.
Team News
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Almeria will be missing Bruno Langa on Monday evening through suspension due to the red card that he picked up in the second half of the contest with Celta last time out.
Leo Baptistao is also out due to a muscular problem, while Luis Suarez and Ibrahima Kone remain major doubts for the team at the bottom of the table.
Head coach Garitano is unlikely to make many changes to the side that started against Celta, but Langa's absence will open the door for Alex Pozo to come in at left-back.
As for Sevilla, a lengthy injury list includes Juanlu Sanchez, Jesus Navas, Joan Jordan, Erik Lamela, Lucien Agoume, Marcao and Dodi Lukebakio.
Meanwhile, Marcos Acuna, Mariano Diaz and Nemanja Gudelj are major doubts, so there could be as many as 10 absentees for the visitors on Monday night.
Youssef En-Nesyri scored twice in an impressive performance against Real Sociedad last time out, and the Morocco international is again expected to be joined by Isaac Romero in the final third of the field.
Almeria possible starting lineup:
Maximiano; Pubill, Gonzalez, Radovanovic, Pozo; Baba, Robertone; Romero, Viera, Embarba; Lozano
Sevilla possible starting lineup:
Nyland; Bade, Nianzou, Ramos, Salas, Pedrosa; Suso, Soumare, Torres; Romero, En-Nesyri
We say: Almeria 1-2 Sevilla
Both sides will be missing some important players on Monday evening, and we are expecting it to be a tight match in terms of the scoreline. Sevilla are in good form, though, and the visitors should have enough quality to navigate their way to all three points in this contest.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Matt Law
