La Liga Preview: Alavés Maintains Unbeaten Home Streak, Las Palmas Seeks to End Winless Run

At 23:00 on September 1st, the fourth round of the new La Liga season will see Alavés host Las Palmas at the Mendizorroza Stadium, with both teams striving for better results in the new season.

Las Palmas is still searching for their first victory of the new season, but they drew with Real Madrid on Thursday, boosting their morale.

Alavés performed well last season, finishing 10th with 46 points, successfully avoiding relegation. This season, they hope to continue this good form. Their early-season performances were not entirely satisfactory, starting with a 1-2 loss away to Celta Vigo and then a goalless draw at home against Real Betis. However, the midweek match provided a significant boost for Alavés, as they achieved a comeback win in an away game against Real Sociedad after one of their opponents was sent off. Brais Méndez scored first for Real Sociedad, but Alavés won the game thanks to a penalty by Asier Villalibre and a winning goal from substitute Toni Martínez.

Currently, Alavés ranks 9th in La Liga, while Las Palmas is 18th.

Carrying the confidence of defeating another Basque opponent, Alavés returns home, where they have remained unbeaten in their last five league home games, with three wins and two draws. However, Alavés has failed to beat Las Palmas in their last four meetings, with three draws and one loss. They hope to break this record on Sunday and achieve their first win over Las Palmas since April 2018.

Luis Carrion took over from García Pimienta as the new head coach of Las Palmas for the 2024-25 season, and his tenure is still in its early stages. Although Las Palmas has yet to secure their first win of the season, they performed impressively against Real Madrid, with Alberto Molero scoring within the first five minutes. Although Vinicius equalized with a penalty, the team’s performance was commendable. Las Palmas has not won any of their last 17 La Liga matches, with seven draws and ten losses, hoping to secure their first win since February at the Mendizorroza Stadium.

Alavés has no new injuries ahead of the weekend’s game, and coach Luis García can field a full-strength squad. Nauel Turneria, Manu Sánchez, and Antonio Blanco are expected to return to the starting lineup, and Aleksandar Sedlar, who has just completed his suspension, is likely to partner Abdul Aboukhlal in central defense.

For Las Palmas, Adnan Januzaj and Pegueroles are out due to injury, but left-back Alex Muñoz will return to the starting lineup, possibly moving Mika Marmol to central defense. Summer signing Oli McBurnie is expected to start again, having contributed two assists in three league appearances, and he is looking to score his first goal for his new club.

Given that three of the last four encounters between the two teams ended in draws, and considering Las Palmas has drawn twice this season, it is expected that the match on Sunday will also be closely contested.

Alavés’ predicted starting lineup:

Civera; Turneria, Aboukhlal, Sedlar, Sánchez; Blanco, Guevara; Vincente, Guridi, Cuéllar; Jike

Las Palmas’ predicted starting lineup:

Cillessen; Suarez, McKenna, Marmol, A. Muñoz; J. Muñoz, Rodriguez; Marvin, Molero, Sandro; McBurnie

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