Levante – Girona SOCCER PICKS
Levante and Girona meet at Ciudad de Valencia Stadium, in a match for the 18th round of the First Division. The record of direct matches played in this stadium indicates total balance between these two teams, since there was 1 draw and 1 win for each team in the last 3 matches. Indeed, the last time these two teams played against each other in this stadium was on 11-28-2017, for the Copa del Rey, which ended in a draw by (1-1). José Luis Morales (75 ‘) scored the goals of the game, for Levante, and J. Mojica (33’), for Girona. The condition home / away deserves particular attention, because despite this being a match between 10th and 9th of the league table, it is actually a match between the 15th ranked in home games and the 7th as a visitor.
Levante:
The home team is currently in the 10 th position of the league, with 22 points won, after 6 wins, 4 draws and 7 losses. In the penultimate match, they lost at home against Barcelona by (0-5). In the last match, they lost in an away match against Rayo Vallecano, by (2-1). Interestingly, this is a team that has had better results in away matches than at home, since they have won 12 points in away matches and only 10 at their stadium. For the championship, Levante won 10 points out of 24 possible, after 3 wins, 1 draw and 4 losses in the last 8 home matches. In their home league matches the most frequent result at half-time was the 1-0 (3 out of 8 matches). They have not been very strong defensively, since they have suffered goals in 7 of the last 10 matches, but their offense has scored frequently, since they have scored goals in 9 of the last 10 matches for this competition. In their home matches there is a tendency for goals, since 7 of the last 8 matches for this competition have ended with Over 2,5 goals. In 17 matches in this competition, they have only won 1 of the 8 matches they suffered in the first goal.
Levante is a club that was never a champion of La Liga (1st Division), but was already Liga Adelante champion (2nd Division of the Spanish League) twice, the last time in 2016/17, title that gave the access to the elite of Spanish football. In the current season, the team has been doing an irregular campaign in the national championship, winning 22 of the 51 points played so far, thus being in the middle of the table, relatively close to the Europa League qualifying zone. In the last five games that Levante played at home, for more than one competition, all of them scored more than 1.5 goals. We believe that in this match the Levante, to play at home, can score goals and favor a more open game.
Girona:
After 5 wins, 7 draws and 5 losses, the away team is currently in the 9 th position of the league, with 22 points won. In their last match, they tied with Getafe at home (1-1), after in the previous match they lost out in a match against Sevilla, by (2-0). This is a team that usually gets more positive results in away matches than at home, since they have won 12 points in away matches and 10 at their stadium, with 8 goals scored and 7 conceded in away matches, against 10 goals scored and 13 conceded at home. In the last 8 away matches for the championship, Girona have 3 wins, 3 draws and 2 losses, so they have won 12 points out of 24 possible. In their away league matches the most frequent result at half-time was the 0-0 (5 out of 9 matches). Defensive consistency has not been their best feature, as they have conceded goals in 7 of the last 10 matches for this competition. In their home matches there is a tendency for few goals, since 4 of the last 8 matches for this competition have ended with Under 1,5 goals. In 17 matches in this competition, he never got the comeback in the 6 games in which he suffered the first goal. There is 1 period that stands out in the last 10 away matches for all competitions: they have suffered 5 of their 9 goals between minutes (61′-75 ‘).
Girona is a club that started competing in the First Division (Spanish league) recently and that is why it has not yet been champion, but it was already runner-up in the Liga Adelante (second national division) in the 2016/17 season. In the current season the team has been doing an irregular campaign in the national championship, winning 22 of the 51 points played so far, thus being in the middle of the table, relatively close to the first classified. In the last five games that Girona played as a visitor, for more than one competition, three of them scored more than 1.5 goals. We believe that in this match the Girona will play a more open and can score, taking advantage of the defensive fragility of the opponent, but may also suffer goals.
