Deportivo Alaves vs Sevilla

Estadio Mendizorrotza is the venue as Deportivo Alaves and Sevilla go head-to-head in a competitive-looking Copa del Rey last-16 tie.

Second-tier Deportivo Alaves have won all three Copa del Rey ties this season via an identical 1-0 scoreline, most recently dispatching Sevilla’s fellow top-flight rivals Real Valladolid. But Real Oviedo’s 1-0 home victory at the weekend knocked ‘El Glorioso’ down from a three-game winning streak. Since a scoreless draw at Eibar in November, none of Alaves’ last eight competitive outings have ended level (W3, L5), with 62.5% of them featuring a 1-0 full-time scoring, highlighting the prospect of a drab low-scoring affair. Adding to this sentiment, seven of their last eight competitive home fixtures have seen one or both sides fail to score in matches garnering under 2.5 total goals.

On the other hand, Sevilla suffered a morale-damaging 2-1 defeat at fellow La Liga relegation adversaries Girona last weekend despite claiming an early advantage. Before that, Jorge Sampaoli’s side had gone unbeaten on five consecutive domestic travels (W3, D2), including a hat-trick of multi-goal margin victories ‘to nil’ at lower-league sides in this competition. With their La Liga status hanging by a thread, ‘Los Rojiblancos’ will hope devastated fans something to cheer about, and having not lost any of their last four visits to Alaves (W2, D2), this looks like a perfect place to start a renaissance. The eventuality of a low-scoring affair is underlined by the fact five of Sevilla’s last six away H2Hs against Alaves have contained two goals or fewer.