The last five free to view betting previews on the website have all won, hopefully the one below will make it six from six, but if not, we will start again later in the week !
Copa del Rey: Alaves- Deportivo de la Coruna
I previewed the league meeting between these two here in early season writing ............
Alaves have played three games following their long awaited return to the top flight, a 0-0 home draw with Sporting Gijon and incredibly, four points from road trips to Barcelona and Atletico Madrid !
They came up as champions and took the decision to thank the coach by sacking him and the players by getting rid of 14-15 ! Hard to place them exactly, but the truth is they are probably much nearer to the level of the home game than anything we saw on the road and I feel they have been overrated for this evening based on those two shock results.
Deportivo are now in their third season back in the top flight and can start to re-establish themselves as a big club with a decent mid table finish, giving themselves something to really build on, after a couple of years spent yo-yoing between the top two divisions. Last year they started strongly, were top ten right through the first half of the season and only lost twice (17 starts) before New Year, they could then largely coast, seeing a point as one earned rather than two lost and despite finishing 15th, were never in relegation trouble. They feel they have upgraded this summer and come into the campaign in a positive frame of mind and supporters have been surprised by the quality added, ranking this squad much stronger than the one which was 6th in January. They are going to be very tough to break down, tactically rigid, with a high press and very disciplined approach and one goal will earn them a lot of points this season you feel. They are 1-1-1 so far, beating Eibar, losing at home to Athletic and drawing at Betis and those teams have largely boosted the formline since.
This is a very big game for visiting head coach Gaizka Garitano, he is Basque, spent pretty much his entire playing and coaching career in the area and finished his playing days at Alaves and will be passing many of his former clubs en route from Coruna, he spoke about this week and having to play three games in seven days, but said he would not think about rotation or the games ahead and will 100% be going with his strongets available line up this evening. We will know a lot more about these two after tonight, but my instinct is that Deportivo have top ten potential and I have to take something whilst the oddsmakers still believe in this "imposter" Alaves.
That finished 0-0 and the two also shared the spoils in a 2-2 draw in the first leg of this tie in Coruna last week, Alaves racing into a two goal lead before Deportivo kept the tie alive. They then went to Espanyol at the weekend and I spoke there about how they had prepared for three games inside eight days ...........
His (Espanyol head coach)players were given four days off over the holiday, but have otherwise trained and focused solely on today and many of the players have spoken on the club website this week about their desire for three points and to get straight back to winning ways. They have not played for 15 days, Deportivo had a Copa match on Tuesday evening, so will have played twice inside three days, to be honest, I am not sure what is best, but it is a quick turnaround and Depor have had a very unusual build up to today and schedule planned for this weekend. They are travelling late, lunchtime today and whilst the flight is only 90 minutes or so, that is odd and they go home in the early hours of the morning and then have a training session booked for the same morning. I would normally say that meant they were giving priority to their next game, which is the Copa second leg with Alaves in midweek, but that cannot be true, with Deportivo just two places above the drop zone, all in all, more than a little strange .
The visitors are without Faycal Fajr who is at the ACN with Morocco and right winger Carles Gil who has not played much until recently , but who has been influential, he has three assists in the last four starts and Depor have won 3/5 when he plays 60 minutes +, just 1/11 otherwise. Former Liverpool left winger Ryan Babel who has four goals , one in all three wins, left in the window to join Besiktas and these do look big losses, epecially out wide and on both flanks. They are winless on the road after eight away starts and have failed to score in half of those and have won just 6/46 away from the Riazor since their return to the top flight.
Deportivo played well and took a surprise (for me) point in that game and travel to Alaves in good heart and confident mood. The hosts will be no less so after battling to a 0-0 Basque derby draw away to Bilbao. It was all Alaves early in the first leg, Depor were very sluggish, slow to the second ball (or first for that matter) and looked like they had a New Year hangover, after the break it was a very different story. They started to play with more width and had great joy with crosses into the box (they are a very big side in Spanish terms) and could even have scored a third or fourth goal and would have, if the second had come earlier. Every ball into the box was producing a chance and this looks a clear route to goal and they also caused Espanyol problems from set pieces. They seem very focused on the cup and whilst the same is true for Alaves too I would guess, as they are five points better off than Depor, they have made it clear even this week, that survival is their only real target for this season and given their recent history, I 100% accept and agree with that.
I have just rewatched the league meeting and Depor also had three huge chances, one of which came back off the post, from crosses into the box, all from the right flank which Alaves just seemed unable to defend.
1.5 units Deportivo level ball 2.16 asian line/Sportmarket.
Good Luck.
