Numancia vs Real Zaragoza Predictions

This Saturday’s clash between Numancia and Zaragoza in the Spanish Segunda Division is a bit of a grudge fixture. The two sides met in the play-off Semi-Final in June, with Zaragoza in fine form at the time and looking good to finally end their wait for top flight football. However Pape Diamanka’s 90th minute goal in the 2nd Leg in Zaragoza sent Numancia through to the Final and condemned Los Maños to another season in the second tier.

Numancia were beaten in the play-off Final though and they haven’t exactly responded well to that setback. They’ve put just 10 points on the board from their opening 8 games. Indeed their 1-0 win over minnows Extremadura UD last weekend was just their second victory of the campaign in all competitions.

Zaragoza haven’t made a great start either in truth. The departure of the prolific Borja Iglesias to Espanyol has hurt them and they come into this one without a win in four matches. That increases the pressure on Imanol Idiakez, a summer appointment with the expectation being that they again make a strong promotion challenge.

Overall this has all the makings of a close game and Numancia do look a bit short at around 5/4 win to claim all the points. They’ve been pretty poor in the final third this term, averaging just 0.75 goals per game at home. While their two wins this season have both come in front of their own fans, neither were exactly convincing. Both came via 1-0 margins and were against newly promoted teams in the shape of Extremadura and Elche. Up against the more established Segunda sides they’ve come unstuck, losing to Sporting and Almeria, whilst they drew with Cadiz.

Zaragoza are certainly of a similar pedigree to those sides and if anything they’ve been more impressive away this term. They average 1.75 goals per game on their travels compared to 1.38 overall. Meanwhile they’ve also conceded fewer times on the road, so they are perhaps enjoying the freedom of playing away from an expectant home crowd.

Overall they look more than capable of getting a result here against an unconvincing Numancia side so backing Zaragoza Double Chance looks to be a decent bet. The visitors have drawn 4 of their last 8 though and a sharing of the points seems more likely than an away win still so going for the Draw in the Full-Time Result market also appeals.