Granada vs Sevilla Predictions

These two sides will have widely contrasting expectations this term, but both will be in equally good spirits heading into this Friday’s clash in Andalusia following positive starts to the 2019/20 La Liga campaign last weekend.

Newly promoted Granada weren’t fancied to get anything on their top flight return at Villarreal and Diego Martinez’ charges indeed looked cooked at Estadio de la Ceramica after going 4-2 down with just 17 minutes remaining.

But there were more twists and turns to come in what was the standout game on match day one, thanks dually to Granada’s sheer tenacity and Villarreal’s calamitous defending from set pieces.

Veteran Roberto Soldado pounced with a powerful header on debut for Nazaries against his former club with 15 minutes remaining, before Antonio Puerta sealed a share of the spoils nine minutes from time, poking home the final touch after Soldado again found himself unmarked.

It was the least that Granada deserved from an enthralling contest and Martinez’ side will be worth watching this season if they approach the rest of their fixtures in the same way. They will certainly take plenty of confidence into their first home match of the campaign this Friday at Los Carmenes where they were breached just twice in 2018/19 en route to automatic promotion.

Sevilla will surely pose a much sterner test to Nazaries though than Villarreal did last week. Los Rojiblancos began life under new boss Julien Lopetegui with a sticky looking away fixture against last season’s 7^th placed side Espanyol, but ran out cosy 0-2 winners at RCDE Stadium thanks to goals from Real Madrid loanee Sergio and industrious forward Nolito.

The result and performance did much to dispel uncertainty around how Sevilla’s transformed line-up would click together in the early weeks of the season – and a similar showing here from Lopetegui’s men will probably see Granada outclassed and picked off based on how they set about their business on match day one.

Nonetheless, it’s still early days in the new campaign and consistency isn’t something associated with Sevilla in recent times. After 13 defeats last term including nine away from home, the judgement call is to avoid the visitors in the match betting here at a shade of odds-on and focus on the ‘Both Teams to Score’ market instead.

Both teams have netted in six of the last eight competitive meetings between the pair, whilst Granada scored in all but three of their 21 outings at Los Carmenes last term. Sevilla have scored in eight of their last ten La Liga fixtures (netting at least twice in seven of those matches) but have conceded in 11 of their last 14 on the road, so it’s highly likely we’ll see plenty of action at both ends of the field.

Sevilla are rightfully favourites (despite looking a touch under-priced) and are the better team, so we’re going for a 1-2 scoreline in favour of the visitors as they seek to prolong Granada’s lengthy winless run in the top flight (the hosts are without a win in 14 La Liga games stretching back to the 2016/17 season).