Having finally climbed to the top half of the standings, Real Sociedad will be looking to all but secure La Liga survival by defeating rock-bottom Cordoba. Los Blanquiverdes six seven points adrift of safety after losing eight straight league matches and they are in for yet another very difficult task.

Carlos Vela returns

Former Manchester United manager David Moyes made a brave decision to take over the reigns at Real Sociedad and while he initially encountered plenty of problems, it appears the Scottish coach has brought improvement to Anoeta. While the impressive 1-0 triumph over mighty Barcelona was followed by some under-par results, La Real finally hit the ground running midway through February, winning three of last four La Liga matches, while only losing to Valencia. The fact that David Moyes’ charges embarked on the promising run while best player Carlos Vela was on the sidelines makes their performances even more impressive, and with the Mexican now back to the side, Real Sociedad can be trusted to keep the rich vein of form. Back to back wins over Espanyol and Getafe helped the team finally escape the danger zone and they now have an excellent opportunity to further improve their league position by defeating rock-bottom Cordoba, who seem destined for the drop. With the hosts high on confidence at the moment, a comfortable home win appears on the horizon.

Seeing as Carlos Vela has resumed full training, David Moyes will have fully fit squad to select from for the first time in a while.

Eight defeats on the bounce

Cordoba have failed to prove they have what it takes to play at this level and with 11 games to go, they already looked destined for a straight return to Segunda. Apart from a short period at the turn of the year when the team showed some promise, los Blanquiverdes have been utterly disappointing throughout the current campaign and they clearly deserve to go down. The club chiefs have lost patience with former Real Valladolid and Valencia coach Miroslav Djukic and appointed Jose Romero in his place, but it looks as though it is too late for Cordoba to revive their survival hopes. The Estadio Nuevo Arcangel outfit have now lost eight straight La Liga matches and they are unfortunate to be facing Real Sociedad at the time when they are playing the best football of the season. New boss Jose Romero is widely expected to introduce some new players to the side and while the visitors will give their best to end the barren run, it is perfectly clear they lack the quality to match La Real, especially taking the obvious lack of confidence into account.

Inigo Lopez returns from suspension, whilst Heldon is back from international duty. Top scorer Nabil Ghilas, Fede Vico, Edimar and Deivid are out injured.

Verdict

Real Sociedad are clearly playing at a very high level at the moment and with Carlos Vela back to the side, they can be trusted to see off rock-bottom Cordoba. Los Blanquiverdes have lost eight league matches in a row and the dismal run looks set to continue at Anoeta.

Top pick: Home win   1.67 (2/3) @ Betfred

Alternative pick 1: Sociedad/Sociedad   2.60 (8/5) @ BetVictor

Alternative pick 2: Sociedad -1.5 AH   2.80 (9/5) @ Unibet