Following their heroics against Barcelona in the Copa del Rey, Sevilla could cap off a perfect week with three points against bottom-of-the-league Huesca at the Estadio Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan.
Despite their lowly position in La Liga, Huesca have been enjoying their football of late and have put in a number of positive performances in recent weeks. However, beating Julen Lopetegui's high-flying Sevilla team might be a step too far for the Aragon side.
Match preview
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Sevilla come into this tie on the back of an impressive semi-final first leg against La Liga heavyweights Barcelona, in which they won 2-0.
Centre-back Jules Kounde and former Barca star Ivan Rakitic were the heroes on the night, both finding the back of the net to give the home side a comfortable lead going into the return fixture.
With one foot firmly in the final of the competition, Lopetegui did not let his excitement get ahead of him after the game. Talking to the press, he said: "We still have the most difficult thing to do, however, which is to play in Barcelona. We know how difficult the return leg will be."
Caginess aside, it is safe to say that Lopetegui will be quietly confident of his side's chances. After all, Los Palanganas have won their last four league fixtures and are one of the division's most in-form sides.
Sevilla and Huesca have only met once before at Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan, a 2018 fixture that ended 2-1 to the home side, and three points for Lopetegui's men this weekend could propel them into third place ahead of Barca.
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However, this weekend's tie will be anything but a walk in the park for Sevilla. Thanks to new boss Pacheta, Huesca have shaken off their status as the league's whipping boys and evolved into a side more than capable of escaping the drop.
Picking up four points against Villarreal and Real Valladolid in recent weeks, Huesca came up again champions Real Madrid last time out with bags of confidence.
Despite Javi Galan bagging the first goal of the game just after the break, Pacheta's men were eventually undone by Los Blancos after Raphael Varane netted his first two goals of the season.
With their backs against the wall, it is unlikely that this loss will dampen the mood at Huesca and Pacheta will be looking for three points from their trip to Andalusia.
To pick up the points, Pacheta may well look to his star striker Rafa Mir, who scored a hat-trick against Valladolid and appears to have developed an appetite for scoring significant goals.
Sevilla La Liga form: WLWWWW
Sevilla form (all competitions): WWWWWW
Huesca La Liga form: LLLDWL
Huesca form (all competitions): LLLDWL
Team News
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Lopetegui will be without his skipper Jesus Navas and trusted attacker Lucas Ocampos for this tie. Both have been ruled out due to injury.
Marcos Acuna and Oscar Rodriguez are also out with hamstring injuries.
Shot-stopper Bono has gone 618 minutes without conceding a goal and will likely add to that record on Saturday.
Pacheta will be without just two players for this tie, with Pedro Mosquera and Antonio Valera both nursing minor injuries.
Sevilla possible starting lineup:
Bono; Vidal, Kounde, Carlos, Escudero; Fernando, Jordan, Suso, Rakitic, Gomez; En-Nesyri
Huesca possible starting lineup:
Fernandez; Pulido, Siovas, Silva; Maffeo, Rico, Doumbia, Seoane, Galan; Okazaki, Mir
We say: Sevilla 2-0 Huesca
There is no question that Huesca have upped their game in recent weeks, but getting the better of Sevilla will likely be a step too far for Pacheta's men. Los Palanganas are in great form at the moment and a straightforward three points this weekend is definitely on the cards.
Top betting tip
Francis Buchanan
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 Sevilla win with a probability of 56.8%. A draw had a probability of 23.7% and a win for Huesca had a probability of 19.52%.
The most likely scoreline for a Sevilla win was 1-0 with a probability of 12.43%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (10.73%) and 2-1 (9.71%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (11.24%), while for a Huesca win it was 0-1 (6.51%). The actual scoreline of 1-0 was predicted with a 12.4% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted a 1-0 win for Sevilla in this match.
