Sports Mole previews Monday's La Liga clash between Sevilla and Mallorca, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
Sevilla will be bidding to make it three straight victories in La Liga when they continue their campaign against Mallorca at Estadio Ramon on Monday night.
The home side are currently 13th in the table, now nine points clear of the relegation zone, while Mallorca occupy 15th spot, six points ahead of 18th-placed Cadiz with seven games left.
Match preview
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Sevilla have eased any slight relegation fears with back-to-back wins over Getafe and Las Palmas, with Quique Sanchez Flores's side rising into 13th spot in the table, now nine points clear of the bottom three.
The Europa League holders are not yet mathematically safe, but it would be a huge surprise to see them drop into trouble from this position, and they will instead be setting their sights on pushing for the top half.
Sevilla finished 12th in Spain's top flight last season, which proved to be their lowest spot in La Liga since being relegated at the end of the 1999-2000 campaign, and it has again been a tough season for the club.
Los Nervionenses have struggled for consistency at home this term, only picking up 17 points from 15 matches, but they will be welcoming a Mallorca outfit that have collected just nine points from their 15 games on their travels, recording just one win in the process.
Sevilla recorded a 2-0 win over Mallorca in the corresponding match last season, but they suffered a 1-0 loss when the two teams met in the league back in December.
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Mallorca were beaten by Athletic Bilbao in the Copa del Rey final earlier this month, before returning to league action at home to division leaders Real Madrid last weekend.
It was always going to be a tough ask to pick up a positive result against the best team in Spain this season, and Aurelien Tchouameni netted the only goal of the contest early in the second period.
Javier Aguirre's side will be looking over their shoulder at this stage of the season, as they are 15th in the table, only six points ahead of 18th-placed Cadiz with seven games left.
Mallorca have only managed to record six league wins this season, and as mentioned, just one of those has come on their travels, and they have scored just 11 times on the road this term.
The Pirates will take on Cadiz in what could be a huge game in their final match of April, before opening May with a home fixture against Atletico Madrid, who will also be in need of the points, with the capital outfit locked in a battle for fourth position in the table.
Sevilla La Liga form:
Mallorca La Liga form:
- D
- W
- L
- W
- D
- L
Mallorca form (all competitions):
- W
- L
- W
- D
- L
- L
Team News
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Sevilla will welcome Marcos Acuna back into their squad, with the Argentine serving a suspension in the 2-0 success over Las Palmas last time out.
Djibril Sow will be unavailable for the remainder of the campaign due to a foot problem, while there is a further absence for Sevilla in this match, with Kike Salas suspended due to the milestone yellow card that he picked up in the team's last match.
Dodi Lukebakio scored off the bench against Las Palmas and could now be introduced into the XI, with head coach Sanchez Flores potentially switching to a back four on Monday night.
Mallorca, meanwhile, had a fully-fit squad for the clash with Real Madrid, and the club have not reported any injury problems in the build-up to this match.
Cyle Larin dropped down to the bench against Real Madrid, with Aguirre changing his formation to a 5-4-1, but it is again expected to be a front two for the visitors here, with Larin joining Vedat Muriqi in the final third.
Dani Rodriguez, Samu Costa and Antonio Sanchez are again expected to feature in midfield, with Manu Morlanes likely to be the player to drop out to allow Larin to come into the side.
Sevilla possible starting lineup:
Nyland; Navas, Bade, Ramos, Acuna; Ocampos, Soumare, Gudelj, Lukebakio; Romero, En-Nesyri
Mallorca possible starting lineup:
Rajkovic; Maffeo, Gonzalez, Raillo, Nastasic, Lato; A Sanchez, S Costa, D Rodriguez; Muriqi, Larin
We say: Sevilla 1-0 Mallorca
Sevilla have kept clean sheets in their last two wins over Getafe and Las Palmas, and we are predicting another shut-out for the home side here. Mallorca are certainly capable of picking up a positive result, but we are expecting Sevilla to make it three successes in a row on Monday night.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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