Mallorca vs Eibar Predictions

Football purists will welcome the return of former Cup Winners Cup finalists Mallorca to La Liga, but nowhere near as much as Los Bermellones supporters who have suffered six long seasons in the doldrums. The club finally kicked their way out of Segunda last term via the Play-offs and Estadi de Son Moix should be bouncing this weekend as the Balearic Islanders welcome an Eibar side who they’ll be hoping to replicate in the seasons ahead.

Eibar have firmly established themselves as a solid La Liga outfit since gaining their promotion to the top tier in 2013/14, so this fixture provides Mallorca with a decent marker as to where they currently stand. For the visitors, the game offers a good opportunity to make a winning start on the road after gaining just two wins from 19 away matches in the 2018/19 campaign.

On the basis of their overall performances and record in Segunda last term, it looks like Mallorca will face an uphill struggle in the months ahead. Whilst they managed to grind their way into a Play-off spot in the final weeks before overcoming Deportivo La Coruna in the final, they did only accrue 69 points from their 42 league games in total – a tally 18 shy of champions Osasuna.

Boss Vicente Moreno has had scarce funds to play with over the summer to bolster his squad, so as things stand Los Bermellones look one of the weakest teams in the league on paper. Nevertheless, they did boast a formidable record at Estadi Son Moix last season in winning 15 of their 21 starts, so Moreno’s side will be quietly optimistic that they can make life difficult for a lot of the teams who’ll make the trip to Palma this season.

And Mallorca can realistically target some points against Eibar who posted one of the worst away records in La Liga last season. Los Armeros won just two and lost nine of their away fixtures – cancelling out all of their excellent work at Ipurua Municipal Stadium. Whilst 12^th place represented a solid campaign all in all for the Basque outfit, boss Jose Luis Mendilibar will demand more from his charges on their travels this time around.

Eibar appear to have been weakened over the summer though following the departures of Joan Jordan and Ruben Pena to Seville and Villarreal respectively, so it’s difficult to envisage Los Armeros making much progress this season.

As ever, it’s tricky to assess how newly promoted teams are going to fare on the opening day of the campaign – particularly when home advantage can be considered a significant leveller. Eibar are probably the better team, but their travel sickness and Mallorca’s strong home form level the scales.

With that in mind and Eibar’s eight draws last season, we’re cautiously opting for a stalemate in this contest as it’s easy to envisage a dour affair with both teams shaping up not to lose. A point will probably be regarded as a decent start for both and 0-0 is a feasible shout in the correct score market considering Eibar drew a blank in nearly 50% away games last term.