Las Palmas vs Sevilla

Estadio Gran Canaria forms the backdrop for the opening game of the 2024/25 La Liga season between Las Palmas and Sevilla.

New Sevilla manager Garcia Pimienta left Las Palmas in tatters toward the end of his tenure at the Estadio Gran Canaria. An underwhelming 14-match winless league streak (D5, L9) down the final stretch of last season proved the end of the road for Pimienta’s reign at Las Palmas, condemning the club to a disappointing 16th-place finish. Freshly-appointed manager Luis Carrion bids to inspire Los Amarillos to a more promising start to the new campaign and potentially help Las Palmas post their first home league win since February (D3, L4) on his competitive debut. Confidence stems from holding Liverpool to a scoreless draw at Anfield in their final warm-up game. However, Las Palmas’ struggles in this fixture are long-standing, with Sevilla beating them in all seven top-flight H2Hs since 2016.

In the meantime, Sevilla’s decision to appoint Pimienta following his torrid spell at Las Palmas was mind-boggling, especially after an embarrassing 14th-place finish in 2023/24 – only a point clear of their opening-day opposition. With standout center-forward Youssef En-Nesyri gone, Sevilla’s effort to end a two-game losing run at the start of a new La Liga campaign is in doubt. Given their superb H2H run, a trip to Las Palmas looks godsent, although it’s worth noting that five of their last seven league wins in this fixture have yielded a narrow one-goal margin. The Andalusians would likely settle for another unconvincing victory, considering they rounded off the 2023/24 season on a three-game winless league streak on the road (D1, L2).