Sevilla face potentially tricky trip to Leganes

Leganes may be near the bottom of the table, but they’re a tough side to beat at home — as Sevilla are likely to find out.

Sevilla extended their unbeaten run in the league to seven games with a 2-0 victory over Girona last Sunday. This kept them in second place as they continue to keep up the pressure on league leaders Barcelona, although they’re only ahead of Atletico Madrid on goal difference and are due to play them at the start of January.

Leganes are currently in 16th place, just three points above the relegation places. They have only lost once at home, though, and have picked up 12 points from a possible 21 at the Butarque, including a 2-1 win over Barcelona and a 1-1 draw with Atletico. Los Pepineros are actually unbeaten in their last eight matches, so they shouldn’t be underestimated by Pablo Machin’s men.

Machin will set up his team in the usual 3-5-2 system and an adventurous midfield trio is likely in order to break down Leganes’ stubborn defensive shape. A number of starters will be unavailable for this match, though. Pablo Sarabia and Ever Banega are out suspended while Simon Kjaer is injured. Franco Vazquez should return to midfield after serving his own suspension, but Machin has to choose between using Quincy Promes in Sarabia’s role or going for a safer option such as Ibrahim Amadou and pushing Vazquez further forward.

Mauricio Pellegrino appears to have settled on a 5-3-2 shape. In Guido Carrillo, they have the ideal target man and he’s clearly a favorite of Pellegrino’s because he also signed him at Southampton, while Youssef En-Nesyri works well off him. They’ll look to play direct and bypass the opposition midfield with balls to Carrillo, who can bring the rest of the team into play through quick transitions.

Sevilla need to use the lack of width from the opposition to their advantage in order to break down the defensive shape. Jesus Navas and Sergio Escudero will be key in providing the width and the movement of Andre Silva will be important in finding pockets of space between the wing-backs and centre-backs as well as drawing the defenders out of shape.

If Promes starts, he has to ensure he supports the attack in order to draw attention away from the two strikers. However, he can’t afford to neglect his defensive opportunities such as tracking back and maintaining the defensive shape otherwise there will be a big hole for Leganes to exploit in Sevilla’s midfield.