Abelardo begins second stint in LaLiga with Deportivo Alaves

Coach Abelardo Fernandez will kick start his La Liga journey on his second stint with Spanish Side Deportivo Alavés against Sevilla FC at the Estadio Mendizorroza on Tuesday night.

This will be the first match for Abelardo since returning to Deportivo Alavés, who he coached between 2017 and 2019. He’ll start this new stint in the Mendizorrotza dugout by going up against his former Barça and Spanish national team teammate Julen Lopetegui, the Sevilla FC coach who has recently penned a new contract with the Andalusian club.

There are two fixtures at 19:00 CET on the Tuesday of this midweek round and one of them could be huge in the relegation battle. Real Valladolid currently occupy the spot just above the relegation zone and they’ll host Elche CF, the team currently rounding out the bottom three.

Real Valladolid know just how difficult it is to survive after coming up as the winner of the LaLiga SmartBank playoffs, something they just managed to pull off two years ago and something Elche CF are aiming to do this year. After a bright start, the newly promoted side’s form has dropped off and they’re hoping to end a run of 11 league games without a win.

At the same time as that match, Cádiz CF will host Levante UD. These are two teams whose objective at the start of the season was simply to avoid relegation, but they’re two teams who could even finish 2020/21 in the top half of the standings. This round’s match will go a long way to determining if a top half finish is possible.

Wednesday’s action starts with Getafe CF vs SD Huesca, and the latter will also have a new coach for this round as they’ve hired José Rojo Martín, better known as Pacheta. After earning promotion for Elche CF last season, but seeing his contract expire, Pacheta will now be able to coach in the top division again and he’ll do so for the first time since briefly coaching CD Numancia in 2009. At Getafe CF, they also have some exciting new faces after bringing in Take Kubo and Carles Aleñá. Both players impressed on their debuts last time out and will look to lead the Azulones to another victory.

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Later on Wednesday night comes Real Betis vs Celta Vigo, two teams in the top half of the rankings for goals scored and two teams in the bottom three of the one for goals conceded. Goals should be expected, then, as these two attack-minded outfits go head to head.