Leganes vs Osasuna Predictions

Osasuna return to La Liga this Saturday evening after two seasons in the second tier and Jagoba Arrasate’s side will be confident that they can make a positive start to life back in the top flight when they square off against Leganes at Estadio Municipal de Butarque.

After romping their way to the Segunda title by a wide margin last term, Los Rojillos look easily the best equipped of the newly promoted teams to make an impact this season and the bookmakers appear to have significantly underestimated their chances for this weekend’s encounter against a Leganes side that petered out tamely towards the end of 2018/19.

The basic statistics show that it was Osasuna’s ruthless home form that spearheaded their championship success last term, and Jagoba Arrasate’s charges indeed accrued 59 of their total 87 point haul at El Sadar – winning 19 of their 21 matches and drawing two.

However, whilst they posted a mixed record of seven wins, seven draws and seven defeats on the road, they only lost one of their final ten fixtures, winning five. As the season wore on, Osasuna got better and better and their level of play on the road began nearing the high standards which they consistently showed in front of their own supporters.

The likelihood is that Osasuna will again pick up the majority of their points at home this term as the quality of opposition rises steeply, but they shouldn’t be dismissed out of hand outside of El Sadar.

And that’s certainly the case on the opening night this Saturday, when they take on a Leganes side who won just one of their last eight La Liga fixtures last season and just one of their final six outings at home.

Overall, Lega enjoyed an improved campaign in 2018/19 to finish 14^th after consecutive 17^th place finishes, but they’re hardly a team to get stuck into at short odds early this season based on how they ended the last so tamely. Transfer business for the Madrid outfit has also been underwhelming during the summer.

Mauricio Pellegrino’s men picked up their fair share of points overall at Estadio Municipal de Butarque in 2018/19, however they did fail to win 12 of their 19 home games. That makes their odds of around evens look skinny here against an Osasuna team with plenty of momentum on their side.

All in all, we expect the visitors to put up a really decent show here and at worst they can prevent Leganes from getting off to a successful start. Backing Osasuna in the double chance market looks the right call, alongside a 1-1 correct score (both teams have scored in five of the last seven meetings between the pair, whilst Osasuna netted in 11 of their last 14 league games last term).