Granada vs Valencia

The two sides that played out identical 0-0 draws in their opening La Liga fixtures will lock horns at the Estadio Nuevo Los Cármenes as Granada take on Valencia.

Granada have opened the new La Liga season in the same fashion they closed the last one, playing out a goalless draw at Villarreal on the opening weekend. After producing back-to-back scoreless draws in competitive action for the first time since 2015, Granada could play out three consecutive such La Liga draws for the first time in the club’s history. A stalemate might not necessarily be a bad outcome for the ‘Nazaries’ here, especially considering a paltry return of just one victory from their last 17 La Liga encounters against Valencia (D3, L13). If Granada are to win here, they will have to defy an underwhelming league form that that seen them go six consecutive La Liga fixtures without winning (D2, L4), drawing a blank on three occasions in the process.

On the other hand, Valencia eked out a narrow 1-0 home triumph over Getafe on Matchday 1 despite being a man down from the 3rd minute. That comes as a notable improvement following a disastrous 2020/21 season that saw Valencia finish 13th in the standings, their lowest ranking in more than 30 years! The resilience they showed on the opening weekend will be required here as ‘Los Murciélagos’ pursue their first away victory in La Liga in over seven months (D3, L7), failing to get on the scoresheet in five of their seven league trips in that time. On the bright side, Jose Bordalas’ men take the field on the back of a three-game unbeaten league streak (W2, D1), last going unbeaten in four straight top-flight matches in January 2020.