5 bold La Liga predictions: Alaves go top of the league (briefly)

VITORIA GASTEIZ, SPAIN - OCTOBER 6: Victor Laguardia of Deportivo Alaves, Jony of Deportivo Alaves, Jonathan Calleri of Deportivo Alaves, Ximo Navarro of Deportivo Alaves, Martin Aguirregabiria of Deportivo Alaves, Mubarak Wakaso of Deportivo Alaves during the La Liga Santander match between Deportivo Alaves v Real Madrid at the Estadio de Mendizorroza on October 6, 2018 in Vitoria Gasteiz Spain (Photo by David S. Bustamante/Soccrates/Getty Images) /

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Kevin Gameiro (R) of Valencia CF competes for the ball with Nelson Semedo of FC Barcelona during the La Liga match between Valencia CF and FC Barcelona at Mestalla on October 7, 2018 in Valencia, Spain (Photo by David Aliaga/NurPhoto via Getty Images) /

2. Valencia thrash Leganes for first home win of the season

It’s fair to say Valencia’s record so far this season is odd. They’ve won one, lost one and drawn six games in the league. This suggests they aren’t far away from regaining the form that saw them finish fourth under Marcelino in his first year in charge last season. The attack lacks the potency that made them such a dangerous side, but there are reasons behind that.

There were a lot of changes for Los Che in terms of personnel during the summer, especially in attack, as they brought in Michy Batshuayi, Kevin Gameiro and Denis Cheryshev, among others. They also only finalized Goncalo Guedes’ transfer late in the window, after he was on loan from PSG last season, so it has taken him a while to readjust to the club. He was the key part of the attack last season due to his unpredictability on the ball. The Portuguese winger could miss this match due to injury, though.

Aside from a shock win over Barcelona, which had more to do with a disastrous display from Gerard Pique and a generally disappointing performance overall from the team, Leganes have done little to impress this season. They’ve picked up seven points and they have all come at the Butarque, so they shouldn’t provide much of a challenge.

Valencia are heavily underperforming in front of goal. They’ve only scored six goals from an xG of 10.32. Gameiro is the biggest culprit in this regard, with one goal from 2.44 xG, per Understat. Leganes could provide the perfect chance for Gameiro and the rest of the attackers to build up their confidence in terms of goalscoring. It only seems a matter of time before they solve this issue because they aren’t having problems creating chances.

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