Sports Mole previews Sunday’s La Liga clash between Sevilla and Girona, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
Sevilla will be targeting their first win of the season when they welcome Girona to the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan for Sunday’s La Liga contest.
Meanwhile, Girona will be looking to claim back-to-back victories after recording a commanding win over Osasuna in midweek.
Match preview
© Imago
Garcia Pimienta has got off to an underwhelming start as Sevilla boss, having seen his new side muster two points from their first three matches of the season.
The Andalusian side kicked off the campaign with a 2-2 draw against Las Palmas, before they conceded in the 95th minute to lose 2-1 in their home meeting with Villarreal.
Sevilla missed the chance to clinch their first victory of the season in Tuesday’s away trip to Mallorca, playing out a goalless draw to make it seven consecutive league games without a win since beating Granada 3-0 in May.
Los Nervionenses are currently languishing in 17th place and are one of seven teams yet to pick up a La Liga win this season.
If they are to change that statistic on Sunday, Sevilla will have to beat Girona for the first time since December 2018 when goals from Ever Banega and Pablo Sarabia fired them to a 2-0 victory at the Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan.
Meanwhile, Girona have experienced a busy summer after finishing in third place to qualify for UEFA competition for the first time in their history.
They have the likes of Artem Dovbyk, Savinho, Aleix Garcia and Yan Couto depart, while they made several additions to their squad, including Bryan Gil, Yaser Asprilla, Abel Ruiz and Bojan Miovski.
The new-look Girona side experienced an underwhelming start to the new season, drawing 1-1 with Real Betis before suffering a heavy 3-0 defeat to Atletico Madrid.
However, the Catalan club bounced back from consecutive away defeats to record a commanding win in their first home outing of the season, with Gil, Ruiz, Viktor Tsygankov and Cristhian Stuani all getting on the scoresheet to condemn Osasuna to a 4-0 defeat.
While Girona may not have home advantage for Sunday’s contest, they may fancy their chances of claiming their first away win of the season, having won each of their last five matches against Sevilla, including a 2-1 win in last season’s away fixture.
Sevilla La Liga form:
Girona La Liga form:
Team News
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Sevilla attacker Suso remains unavailable for selection after missing the first three league games due to a knee injury.
Atletico Madrid loanee Saul Niguez received a late red card against Mallorca and is now set to serve a one-match suspension.
Kike Salas, Juanlu, Lucien Agoume and Isaac Romero are all pushing for recalls, while Lucas Ocampos is set to return after missing the midweek fixture.
As for the visitors, they remain without the injured duo of Richard Artero and Jastin, while Valery Fernandez is a doubt after missing the first two matches due to illness.
Midfielder Yangel Herrera was forced off with a knock in Thursday’s victory, but he is expected to be available for Sunday’s away trip.
Michel implemented are 4-4-2 for the Osasuna clash, but he could be tempted to switch to a 4-3-3 for Sunday’s away trip, with Oriol Romeu in contention to solidify the Girona midfield.
Sevilla possible starting lineup:
Nyland; Carmona, Nyland, Salas, Pedrosa; Juanlu, Lokonga, Agoume; Lukebakio, Ocampos, Romero
Girona possible starting lineup:
Gazzaniga; Frances, Lopez, Blind, Gutierrez; Herrera, Romeu, Martin; Tsygankov, Gil, Ruiz
We say: Sevilla 2-2 Girona
Sevilla will be desperate to claim their first win of Garcia Pimienta’s tenure, but we think they will have to settle for a point against a Girona side who would have received a confidence boost from their commanding win over Osasuna.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.