Granada vs Real Betis

Granada and Real Betis go head-to-head at the Estadio Nuevo Los Cármenes in an all-Andalusian La Liga match-up.

An already unpopular figure among the Granada faithful, under-fire boss Robert Moreno still seeks his maiden La Liga victory as a manager in the midst of his side’s underwhelming start to the season (D2, L1). Alarmingly, the ‘Nazaries’ head into proceedings winless in their last eight top-flight outings (D3, L5), their longest such streak in La Liga since a 15-match run that resulted in relegation back in 2016/17. There’s still a good omen here, as the hosts have won all of their previous three La Liga H2Hs on home turf, keeping a clean sheet in the last two in a row. That said, Granada have suffered three consecutive defeats in top-flight Andalusian derbies and could lose four such contests on the trot for the first time since October 2014.

As for Betis, they’ve failed to live up to expectations in the early exchanges this term. After a brace of identical 1-1 draws with promoted Mallorca and lowly Cadiz, the Andalusian outfit succumbed to a narrow 1-0 home defeat to Real Madrid last time out. That loss halted Betis’ 13-game unbeaten run in La Liga (W4, D9), though ‘Los Verdiblancos’ can still fall back on their solid away form. Manuel Pellegrini’s men have lost just one of their last 13 competitive matches of foreign turf (W6, D6), which should encourage their hopes of winning back-to-back La Liga meetings with Granada for the first time since August 2011. With seven of Betis’ last eight away La Liga fixtures containing under 2.5 overall goals, drawing first blood could prove vital to their success here.