La Liga
Having stumbled to defeat on his managerial debut for the club, newly appointed Beñat San José returns with Vallecano, hoping to pick up a victory on his maiden home appearance for the club. Rayo Vallecano vs. Deportivo Alavés kicks off at 20:00 [GMT+1] on Thursday, August 20, at Estadio de Vallecas. Newly appointed Beñat San José and his side Rayo got off to a poor start in their opening game of the season, where they lost 2-1 to 10-man Sevilla despite taking the lead inside the opening minutes via Álvaro García Rivera [4']. ''A very tough defeat," Beñat San José had said in his post-match interview, having seen his side fail to go level despite picking up a numerical advantage in the 88th minute when centre-back Kike Salas was sent off for the opposition. The home side are now looking to improve on the result in their opening home game of the season. However, the last time they faced victory for Alavés, they suffered a 5-1 loss to the visitors, although the wider head-to-head record tells a different story. The teams have met 11 times across the available recent data, with Rayo Vallecano winning seven of those matches and Alavés taking the other four. Remarkably, none of those 11 encounters has finished level. Rayo, therefore, holds the historical advantage with a 64% win rate across those meetings. The hosts will be hoping that their strong overall record against Alavés proves more representative than that latest result as they look for another positive outcome. Home form provides Rayo with further encouragement. They approach the fixture with a very good recent record on their own ground, giving them a potentially important advantage. A 4—2—3—1 formation with Sergio Camello in attack is expected against Alavés.
The visitors, however, arrive with an excellent away record and will have little reason to be intimidated by the challenge. Their performances on the road suggest they are capable of competing effectively away from home, setting up an interesting contest between Rayo's strength as hosts and Alavés' impressive travelling form. The 5-1 result in the previous meeting will also provide Alavés with confidence. Scoring five times against Rayo represented a significant departure from the broader scoring pattern in this fixture, with the previous meetings between the teams averaging only two goals per match. Goals at both ends have also been relatively uncommon. Both teams have scored in only 18% of their previous meetings, indicating that matches between Rayo and Alavés have frequently seen at least one side kept off the scoresheet. Toni Martínez and Mariano Díaz could team up at the attacking end of a 4—4—2 formation.