Valencia vs Las Palmas preview

January 20, 2016
By: Nemanja Lazarevic

Barcelona vs ValenciaWith their La Liga campaign not exactly going according to plan, Valencia will be desperate to enjoy some Copa del Rey success when they host Las Palmas in the first quarter-final leg.

Los Amarillos are fighting for their lives in the league, so it remains to be seen how they will approach the game at Mestalla.

Even if Nuno Espirito Santo has failed to get the best out of his side, the Gary Neville experiment was always going to be a tall order, and chances are it will prove a very bad decision.

Appointing such an inexperienced manager with no knowledge of Spanish football could cost Valencia dearly this season, as witnessed by their latest performances in La Liga.

Tipped to fight for Champions League positions before the season started, los Che currently occupy a place in the bottom half of the standings and could even get involved in the relegation tussle.

Winless in last nine league matches, Valencia did show some promise in their Copa del Rey campaign, hammering Granada 7-0 on aggregate in the previous stage.

As a result, they have been made 1.62 (5/8) favourites to win the first leg against Las Palmas, but that is not going to be an easy task.

Gary Neville has received a welcoming boost as both Jose Gaya and Lucas Orban trained on Monday, with Enzo Perez stepping up his recovery as well.

Probable starting line-up (4-3-3): Ryan – Barragan, Mustafi, Vezo, Orban – Danilo, Parejo, Gomes – Rodrigo, Alcacer, Piatti.

It was an incredible finish to last season that saw Las Palmas gain promotion to La Liga and they have done fairly well this term.

Los Amarillos had a difficult start to the new campaign, winning just one of first ten league games, but they have shown a great deal of improvement since.

Las Palmas remain one of just two La Liga sides without an away win, but they have seriously upped their performances on home soil.

Los Amarillos recorded four wins in five home games before they were finally beaten by Atletico Madrid, while 2-2 draw with Athletic and 3-2 Copa del Rey win over Eibar on the road give them reason for optimism ahead of the clash with out-of-sorts Valencia.

The visitors will have David Simon back from suspension, but Hernan, Javi Castellano and Asdrubal remain on the sidelines.

Probable starting line-up (4-2-3-1): Lizoain – Simon, David Garcia, D. Castellano, Garrido – Vicente Gomez, Culio – Momo, Valeron, Mubarak – Willian Jose.

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