Week 18 brings us a match on Jan 21st, where Rayo Vallecano hosts Real Sociedad in a meeting of these two La Liga teams. Weather on match day is looking like a cloudy and cool day, with daytime temperatures of only 8 degrees, making for an unpleasant day. Rayo Vallecano is fresh off their 1-0 shutout win against Real Valladolid. Palazon Camacho struck first for Rayo Vallecano in the 65th minute on a feed from Alvaro Garcia Rivera, and with that single goal the scoring was complete. Neither team could manage anything else At the end of 90 a dissapointed Real Valladolid couldn’t manage to score, and Rayo Vallecano took the shutout win. Rayo Vallecano is looking for direction having 4 win and 2 losses in their last 10 matches, while real Sociedad sits at 3rd place in the tables. In their last match they recorded a 1-0 shutout win against Mallorca. Robert Navarro Munoz scored the first goal for Real Sociedad in the 5th minute, and that single goal was all that was necessary as neither team could manage any more scoring In the end, Mallorca couldn’t muster any offence and Real Sociedad ran away with the shutout win. Real Sociedad is on a hot streak lately, with 7 wins in their last 10 matches.
These two teams have not yet played each other this season, so it will be interesting how the match turns out. Last season Real Sociedad won the head to head battle with 1 win and 1 draw.
Alexander Sørloth has been the most prolific scorer on Real Sociedad in his last 5 matches with three goals. Rayo Vallecano is lucky enough to have a few offensive weapons, with Sergio Camello and Palazon Camacho each having 2 goals in their last five
Martín Merquelanz, Raúl de Tomás and Salvi are unavailable to play for Rayo Vallecano, while Imanol Alguacil Barrenetxea’s Real Sociedad squad will be without Barrenetxea, Guevara, Umar Sadiq and Alex Sola.