Cadiz start against Basque fearful opponents!
Cadiz kick off the new La Liga season against Real Sociedad! The home side will approach this fixture with mixed feelings: They haven’t won against the Basques in more than 29 years!
The guests, however, travel with personnel worries. Their top player and mastermind in midfield Mikel Oyarzabal has to miss out due to injury. For the match at the Nuevo Mirandilla between Cadiz and Real Sociedad, the tip aims for a maximum of two goals by the final whistle.
Cadiz – Statistics & current form
Cadiz were promoted to the Spanish top flight for the first time in 14 years two years ago and since then have only managed double-digit finishes to close out the campaign. Last season, they narrowly avoided a return to the second division, finishing 17th.
Coach Sergio Gonzales and his team will probably only fight against relegation again this season.
The home side have a below-average squad and the test matches in the last weeks did not give much hope for an improvement of the situation of the hosts.
The last three preparation games against the two league rivals Sevilla and Atletico Madrid were lost and before that also the comparison with Lille from the French Ligue 1.
The Nuevo Mirandilla is no fortress
Furthermore, the “Piratas” have hardly made any significant changes in terms of personnel and they cannot hope for home advantage against the Basques either, given their performances from the past season.
On the contrary, Cadiz were the weakest team at home in La Liga last season! The home side only managed to win three of their 19 home encounters, as they dipped too often in terms of play (3-9-7).
Predicted line-up of Cadiz:
Ledesma – Arzamendia – Calderon – Chust – Perez – Eyong – Diarra – Gimenez – Hernandez – Mabil – Mbaye
Last matches played by Cadiz:
Friendly club matches
07/08/2022 – Sevilla FC 1 – 0 Cadiz
05/08/2022 – Cadiz 1 – 4 Atletico Madrid
29/07/2022 – Cadiz 0 – 1 Lille
26/07/2022 – Cadiz 1 – 1 Las Palmas
23/07/2022 – Malaga 0 – 2 Cadiz
Real Sociedad – Statistics & current form
The Basques secured sixth place at the final reckoning last season, confirming their status as a powerful team in La Liga. After all, it was now the fourth season in a row with a single-digit finish.
At the moment, however, the visitors have to do without Mikel Oyarzabal in midfield. The Spanish international is of enormous importance for the forward play, he had 19 direct or indirect goal contributions last season, which is why his absence clearly weakens the offensive of “Erreala”.
His absence also made itself felt negatively in the test matches. Only two of the six preparatory matches were won by the San Sebastian team.
Furthermore, as expected, the attack was largely harmless without him: Only in the test match against Bournemouth from the Premier League did coach Imanol Alguacil’s team score more than one goal.
Defence remains the better part of the team
But the defence, which was already the showpiece of the Estadio Anoeta last season, seems to remain solid. Only Eibar conceded more than one goal in the test matches of the two-time Spanish champions.
Just how solid the defence was last season can easily be seen from the fact that only the champions from Madrid and Sevilla conceded fewer goals.
No goals for the home side?
With this in mind and the home side’s limited attacking quality, betting on a clean sheet from the visitors in the match between Cadiz and Real Sociedad is also of interest.
Furthermore, in the match between Cadiz and Real Sociedad, it is possible to predict an away win at fair odds. Although the three-time Copa del Rey winners are without Oyarzabal, the rest of the squad is still superior to the home side.
In addition to being Real’s fearsome opponents, the prediction is also supported by the fact that the home side were extremely weak at home last season, while the White and Blues won more than half of their 19 away games (10-5-4) and only five teams in the league picked up more points away from home.
Predicted line-up of Real Sociedad:
Zubiaurre – Barrenetxea – Le Normand – Fernandez – Gorosabel – Illarramendi – Kubo – Rico – Mendez – Cho – Isak
Last matches played by Real Sociedad:
Friendly club matches
06/08/2022 – Athletic Bilbao 1 – 0 Real Sociedad
05/08/2022 – Real Sociedad 1 – 2 Eibar
30/07/2022 – Bournemouth 1 – 2 Real Sociedad
27/07/2022 – Real Sociedad 1 – 0 Osasuna Pamplona
23/07/2022 – Gladbach 1 – 1 Real Sociedad
Cadiz – Real Sociedad Direct comparison / H2H record
As mentioned at the beginning, the home side have had to wait almost three decades for their next win against Real Sociedad. Since then, they have lost seven times and shared the points three times.
The “Txuri-Urdin” are also currently on a streak of no less than six successes in a row against Cadiz!
Cadiz – Real Sociedad Tip
For the clash between Cadiz and Real Sociedad, the prediction of less than three goals in the course of the match seems profitable, despite manageable betting odds.
Several factors speak for a low-scoring encounter: The visitors will be without their best attacking player Oyarzabal due to an injury and the newcomers in attack such as the Frenchman Cho or the Japanese Kubo were still quite pale in the test matches.
At 18 and 21 years of age, they are also still very young and only at the beginning of their careers. Swedish striker Alexander Isak, on the other hand, may already be in Newcastle’s thoughts as the Magpies continue to make a strong bid for him.
The meagre five goals in the six pre-season games underpin the impression of a weakened attack on the visitors’ side.
However, the third best defence in the last edition of La Liga acted unwaveringly securely, which is why few goals suggest themselves from this angle as well.
The latter point is underpinned by the fact that the hosts’ squad is once again below average, and no team scored less on home soil last season!
