Against All Odds: Goals to flow in Spanish six pointer

11Mar 2013

Primera Division Spanyol

Zaragoza meet Granada in La Liga tonight and Paul Robinson thinks that Sky Sports Xtra viewers who tune in at 19:30 will be in for a feast of goals.

Real Zaragoza narrowly avoided relegation last season when they finished 16th and they're sailing even closer to the wind this time around in 17th, just one point clear of the drop zone. Back to back wins for Mallorca have put pressure on them to end their nine match streak without victory.

The thing holding Manolo Jiménez's side back at the moment is that they're conceding too many goals - both home and away. At La Romareda, Zaragoza have kept just a single clean sheet this term and they've conceded two goals in three of their last four. They managed a point against Valencia last time, but they had to score twice to do so and that now means that six of their last 10 on home turf have gone over 2.5 goals.

Granada avoided relegation by an even more slender margin last season and like their opponents, they're right back in the mix now. They are 16th, just one point ahead of Zaragoza so this is a real six pointer tonight. After installing Lucas Alcaraz as manager early in 2013, the Spaniard got off to a fine start with back to back victories over Real Madrid and Deportivo. However they've not been able to build on that though as they've lost their last three.

As far as the goals go, eight of their last 10 in La Liga have had three or more, with their last half dozen on the road all doing the same. Similarly to Zaragoza, they've been able to score themselves, but clean sheets have been at a premium.

A win for either of these two sides would provide a huge boost so I expect we'll see them both throw a bit of caution to the wind. That means the goals could flow, so with the stats already in our favour, under 2.5 goals is far too short at 1.74 and that's why I'm making it my lay of the day.