It is a very tight campaign in La Liga this season as the best teams in Spain are jostling for position all over the League table. This all has made for a fun season overall and you can check out in-play soccer statistics and trends in order to be ahead of the curve when betting on any and all La Liga games.
Perhaps the tightest battle in the League is the battle for survival. In the relegation battle this season, only five points separate the team currently 18th on the table and the team which is placed 10th.
It really feels like a battle of momentum where anyone can be in trouble or heading towards safety after two positive or negative results in a row. It makes for great entertainment if you are a neutral but understandably less so if your club is involved in the relegation scrap.
Not looking good for Elche
The only team that looks the most likely to be relegated to the Segunda Division at this current time is Elche. They are currently the 20th placed team in the League and are 11 points behind 19th placed Valencia. They are a further 13 points from safety with a -30 goal difference.
Already, they have changed managers twice this season and are currently on their third coach Pablo Machi who will leave at the end of the season. It is a dire situation they have found themselves in as a manager with no actual long term investment in the club may not be able to raise the spirits of the team well enough to guide them to victory.
The worst part of their situation is that the teams who are also in a relegation battle with them are more talented than Los Franjiverdes. It really is not looking good for them.
Valencia might go down
The last time Valencia went down was in the 1985/1986 season. Under the presidency of Vicente Tormo, they suffered from serious financial issues which led them to getting relegated.
Fast forward to 37 years later, Valencia are about to once again pay for the incompetence of a bad owner with relegation. If you say that Peter Lim has succeeded in ruining a great club, you will not find many arguing with you.
This once great club which was competing in the UEFA Champions League just six seasons ago has been reduced to one who are 19th on the table and fighting for survival. Quite frankly, a lot of people saw this coming.
Constant protests, poor results on the pitch, poor decisions at the administrative side of the club and greedy, dishonest owners has turned the club to a land of toxicity.
Ruben Baraja, who sported the white of Valencia in a time where they were one of the best clubs in Spain has been hired after the sacking of Genaro Gattuso to steer them away from relegation and keep them in the top flight for another year and avoid an embarrassing relegation.
All hope is not lost for Valencia as they are currently two points from safety. The team is talented enough to get themselves out of their predicament but they are in desperate need of a spark to get them going.
Sevilla could play UEFA Champions League football in the second division
As ridiculous as that sounds, it is entirely possible that Sevilla could play Champions League football in Spain’s second division next season. Sevilla recently won the first leg of their Europa last 16 fixture against Fenerbahce and will be favorites to go through to the quarter finals of the tournament.
In LaLiga though, their form is very different. They are currently 17th in the League and are only clear of the relegation zone because they have a slightly better goal difference than Almeria (-12 for Sevilla and -14 for Almeria with both teams on 25 points).
They are in danger of getting relegated and their run of one win in their last five League games does not suggest a change in their fortunes in the League.
The narrative around Sevilla, a team that looked to be in a title race for a while last season, is that they have enough talent to steer themselves clear of the drop as they have too much talent. So far, this has not happened and they are in danger of proving the larger public wrong.
Also in the relegation scrap are the three newly promoted sides, Almeria, Real Valladolid and Girona. Of these three sides, only Almeria are safe from relegation while Girona are the furthest from the relegation zone with a five point cushion (if you could call it a cushion).
Celta Vigo, Cadiz, Getafe and Espanyol make up the rest of the teams in the relegation scrap. It is a free for all that has the potential to suck even more teams in. If a couple of bad results go one way and good results go the other, the likes of Mallorca and Athletic Club may find themselves in a relegation battle as well.
