Levante will continue their search for a first win of the La Liga season on Sunday, when they travel to the Estadio Benito Villamarin to take on Real Betis.
A poor start to the season has left the visitors at the foot of the La Liga table, while their hosts maintained their position in fifth thanks to a win last time out.
Match preview
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Real Betis enjoyed a particularly strong start to the La Liga campaign, taking their tally to 21 points from 11 league games with consecutive wins over Alaves, Rayo Vallecano and Valencia in October.
Manuel Pellegrini's men then hit a tougher patch, losing back-to-back top-of-the-table clashes against Atletico Madrid and Sevilla, before they made an important return to winning ways after the international break.
Los Verdiblancos travelled to strugglers Elche, and Juanmi, Willian Jose and Nabil Fekir all got on the scoresheet in the first half in a dominant 3-0 victory.
They then handed Ferencvaros a 2-0 defeat in the Europa League group stage on Thursday, with Cristian Tello and Sergio Canales netting goals, seeing them guarantee a top-two finish in their group.
Pellegrini's men will now turn their focus back to domestic action as they look to make it three wins on the bounce to increase pressure on the top four.
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In their search for another victory, Los Verdiblancos welcome a Levante side who sit at the foot of the division having not won a game so far this season.
At the beginning of October, long-term manager Paco Lopez was dismissed with the Granotes sitting on just four points from the first eight games, but the change in leadership has not brought about the desired impact.
Javier Pereira was subsequently appointed, and his six games at the helm so far have produced three defeats and just three points.
However, they did arguably post one of their most commendable results of the campaign so far last time out, holding eighth-placed Athletic Bilbao to a goalless draw on home soil.
Now sitting four points adrift of safety at the basement of the division, Pereira's men will be desperate to build on that point and finally put their first win on the board at the 15th time of asking.
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Team News
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Real Betis will be without right-back Hector Bellerin, who is suspended after being sent off in the win over Elche.
They have several players nearing returns, and centre-back German Pezzella is likely to start while Victor Camarasa, William Carvalho and Youssouf Sabaly will need to be assessed prior to the game.
Guido Rodriguez recently returned from an injury, and he should partner Sergio Canales in the centre, while Juanmi, Nabil Fekir and Rodri will support lone striker Willian Jose.
Gonzalo Melero will likely be the only absentee for Levante, with Sergio Postigo, Roger Marti and important winger Jorge de Frutos all returning to action recently.
Experienced captain Jose Luis Morales continues to be the key man going forward, and he could line up in a front three alongside de Frutos and Marti.
After an encouraging performance and clean sheet last time out, Pereira should again deploy the back four of Son, Shkodran Mustafi, Ruben Vezo and Carlos Clerc, with Enis Bardhi, Jose Campana and Nemanja Radoja operating in the engine room.
Real Betis possible starting lineup:
Silva; Montoya, Pezzella, Ruiz, Moreno; Rodriguez, Canales; Rodri, Fekir, Juanmi; Jose
Levante possible starting lineup:
Cardenas; Son, Mustafi, Vezo, Clerc; Bardhi, Campana, Radoja; Morales, Marti, De Frutos
We say: Real Betis 1-0 Levante
While Levante will be encouraged by their performance last time out, they face a particularly tough test on Sunday, and we expect them to fall just short.
Pellegrini's side will hope to kick back into gear after consecutive victories, and we fancy them to secure a hard-fought win on home turf.
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 Betis win with a probability of 58.41%. A draw had a probability of 23.5% and a win for Levante had a probability of 18.11%.
The most likely scoreline for a Real Betis win was 1-0 with a probability of 13.08%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (11.35%) and 2-1 (9.65%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (11.11%), while for a Levante win it was 0-1 (6.4%). The actual scoreline of 3-1 was predicted with a 5.6% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole and our data analysis both correctly predicted that Real Betis would win this match.
