Real Betis make the trip to Real Valladolid for Wednesday's Copa del Rey tie looking to bounce back from suffering two successive defeats in La Liga.
While Betis still remain in the hunt for the Champions League places, opponents Valladolid sit in third position in the second tier.
Match preview
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Such has been the high level of Real Betis' season that they can lose twice in a row in Spain's top flight and still occupy a place in the top four of the table.
Nevertheless, alarm bells will be starting to ring with Manuel Pellegrini, whose side required extra time to defeat Talavera in this competition before succumbing to Athletic Bilbao and Celta Vigo.
Although their 4-0 demolition of Real Sociedad is still fresh in the memory, Betis have conceded 10 goals during their last five matches, half of which have come in the final 20 minutes.
Betis have a more favourable fixture list ahead of them, but Pellegrini will recognise that his players must first overcome the frustration of the previous setbacks.
Although he drew a blank in the previous game, Juanmi still has seven goals to his name from his last six starts in La Liga.
Promotion back to the top flight is very much the priority for Valladolid this season, Pacheta's team sitting just five points adrift of the leaders.
However, having posted 10 wins from their last 13 fixtures in all competitions, there will be an eagerness to add another victory to their impressive recent tally.
Back-to-back clean sheets have been recorded against Real Sociedad 'B' and Leganes respectively, while Israel international Shon Weissman has netted in his last four appearances.
Valladolid have, so far, avoided playing La Liga opposition in this competition, their successes coming against Marchamalo and Las Palmas respectively.
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Team News
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Having only featured off the substitutes' bench at the weekend, Nabil Fekir will hope for a recall to the Betis XI.
Rodri, Cristian Tello and Borja Iglesias could also feature with Pellegrini giving consideration to changing his entire front quartet.
Joel Robles is in line to deputise between the sticks, while Aitor Ruibal may take Hector Bellerin's spot at right-back.
Despite the quick turnaround and the prospect of a game on Saturday, Pacheta may be against making too many alterations to his Valladolid starting lineup.
Joaquin Fernandez will likely be a straight replacement for Jawad El Yamiq, who he replaced before the hour mark on Sunday.
Real Valladolid possible starting lineup:
Masip; Perez, Sanchez, Fernandez, Martinez; Plata, Mesa, Aguado, Villa; Plano, Weissman
Real Betis possible starting lineup:
Robles; Ruibal, Bartra, Ruiz, Moreno; Carvalho, Guadrado; Rodri, Fekir, Tello; Iglesias
We say: Real Valladolid 1-3 Real Betis
All things considered, we are expecting a competitive contest on Wednesday evening with Valladolid likely to fancy their chances of causing an upset. However, we cannot back against Betis, who should have enough quality at both ends of the pitch to secure their place in the next round.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Real Valladolid win with a probability of 39.13%. A win for Real Betis had a probability of 35.34% and a draw had a probability of 25.5%.
The most likely scoreline for a Real Valladolid win was 1-0 with a probability of 9.07%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.55%) and 2-0 (6.42%). The likeliest Real Betis win was 0-1 (8.54%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.08%). The actual scoreline of 0-3 was predicted with a 2.5% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole correctly predicted that Real Betis would win this match.
