Numancia vs Rayo Majadahonda Predictions

This Sunday’s early game in the Segunda Division comes from the Nuevo Estadio Los Pajaritos, which is known as the coldest professional football stadium in Spain with temperatures falling rapidly at this time of year. Numancia are hosting Rayo Majadahonda here in what is currently a mid-table clash with just one point separating the two sides heading into this one.

Numancia will be hoping to mount something of a promotion push this term and they are currently only four points outside of the top six. They made it all the way to the play-off final last term but were defeated by Valladolid and that was the closest Numancia have come to the top flight since their relegation to the Segunda in 2009. There was a change in coach over the summer though and they’ve had to start again to some extent under Aritz López Garai.

Rayo Majadahonda are probably the smallest club in this division, although they currently at least have the biggest stadium with their home games taking place at the Wanda Metropolitano. They’ve equipped themselves very well on the pitch so far with a solid return of 16 points from 13 games suggesting they are capable of avoiding the drop in their first ever season at this level.

They’ll do well to get anything out of this game though. Numancia are in good form at home, winning all of their last three home outings to nil. They average 2.17 points per game in front of their own fans overall this season and will take confidence into this one, particularly having picked up a point away to leaders Granada last weekend.

Rayo Majadahonda’s away record doesn’t exactly suggest they will have enough to get anything here. They average just 0.5 points per game away and only 3 teams in the Segunda have picked up fewer points on their travels. Indeed all of Rayo’s last 4 away games have ended in defeat, with just 1 goal scored in the process. Just 19% of their points this season have come away from Madrid where they’ve been enjoying life at their temporary home.

Given that backing Numancia to Win looks good here. Going for a Numancia Win to Nil could also be worth a flutter with the home team having won an impressive 67% of their home games to nil this term while Rayo haven’t exactly been prolific on the road.